This Trip Broke The Bank. Update 11/26 Day 11: Why can't I get in the MK?

[Joyciemc]

5 pages in and I didn't know? Whaaaaat? Excited to be here now and can't wait to catch up!!

For reals, where ya been?
Glad you're here, hope you enjoy it!

Ugh! Great cliff hanger! I'm interested to know, is Portofino more or less expensive than Poly???

Portofino is about $274/per night during the time we went. Not sure if that includes taxes or not...
Poly is $385/per night according to the Disney website. We went with a 40% pin.

Oh, no - I'm getting nervous! I hope the room wasn't bad!

I debated posting this cause I didn't want my Poly-bound DIS friends to get nervous! Don't worry, I will post the rest soon!

Can't wait to find out how your room was!!!

Can't wait to post it!

for arriving at the Poly, although slightly worried as you said something different in my PTR

That's right, I did post it on your PTR! Stay tuned...

Forget the bill, you guys look sooo happy in the last pic. I hope that memory stays with you forever.

Awww, thank you so much! It was money well spent- we had a great trip!

Oh No! I dont like using the word 'reality' when referring to Dis and the Magic. Im SO hoping that everything works out for you.

... and you better get Tonga Toast!

I know! It isn't supposed to be reality, this was our dream trip!
Speaking of Tonga Toast, I could go for some right now. Guess I'll settle for some cereal...

 

[tankgirl427]

Opening up the door better turn into something along the lines and we were inside Cinderella's castle suite!

Don't disappoint me now!

 

[Joyciemc]

Opening up the door better turn into something along the lines and we were inside Cinderella's castle suite!

Don't disappoint me now!

I've been trying to start writing this all morning, but just couldn't get going on it. Here it comes...

 

[Joyciemc]

Day 4: What is behind that door?

A refresher:

Don't I look happy? And excited? We were about to begin our highly anticipated Polynesian stay!
Neither of us had stayed at the Poly before, but it was a dream resort for both of us. On our last trip, we ate a few meals here and really enjoyed spending time at the resort.
Here we are on that 2007 trip, relaxing before our 'Ohana dinner:

When we decided to make this a fancy-pants trip, the first thing we knew was that we were going to stay at the Poly. And it was finally here!
I opened the door, and there it was- our room.....







Where are the pictures? Well, I was so stunned by what I saw I didn't think to take any. But I can tell you my first thought was: 'Huh, we didn't request a Pack N'Play'
My second thought was, 'I wonder why there's a half full (see, I'm an optimist!) bottle of Coke on the desk.' Then I noticed that there was also some trash and papers strewn on the desk, too. But the beds were made, and I think that was what was confusing me. This all happened in a matter of seconds. Ben never even made it into the room because he was behind me and I stopped short at the threshold. I thought we were in someone else's room and I quickly backed up and closed the door.
Then it dawned on us that it was a room someone had checked out of, but had not yet been cleaned. I could feel all my Poly excitement leaving me and I was fighting pretty hard to hang on to it. I did take off my lei, though- it was mocking me! We stood in that cramped dark hallway (a fact which I had ignored along with the elevator on the way in because we were at the Poly and I was going to love it!) and looked at each other. A maintenance CM happened to walk by and Ben stopped him to explain the situation. Unfortunately, the CM didn't speak much English and wasn't really understanding us. Finally, he used his radio to call someone. We were still standing there outside the room and he walked off toward the stairwell. After a little bit, he came back and said someone was coming to clean the room and we could wait right there. Um, you mean wait in this hallway for housekeeping to come over and hurriedly clean this room? No.... that doesn't sound like a super fun way to spend vacation time. I looked at Ben and asked that we go to the front desk. So we headed out, and passed the CM who insisted that we wait, it would only be 10 minutes. We thanked him for trying to help, and headed out.

When we got to the front desk, it was still mostly empty. We explained the situation and the CM helping us apologized. He made a few phone calls and then offered to move us to a different room, explaining that it was in the more newly renovated Tahiti and that we would now have a balcony. We accepted and waited for our new keys to be printed. Before we left, he gave us a $50 credit to the room. It was a nice gesture, but I think a room upgrade would have made us feel more 'taken care of'. Given how expensive the Poly is, $50 is not that much for a 7 night stay! We were calm and collected and maintained our sense of humor, so I can see why the CM didn't see the need to offer us more. By this point, we just wanted to get to our room, so off we went.
The map I was holding was not making any sense at all to me. I blame this on how hungry and grumpy I was. After a few wrong turns, we finally ended up at Tahiti. Walking up to the building, I could see Space Mountain through the windows near the elevator and that helped me feel a little better. Maybe we had received an upgrade after all? Had our garden view turned into a theme park view?

This elevator was an exact copy of the Samoa one. But at least the hallway was much wider and even a bit brighter. Once we found our room, I put the lei back on to recreate the photo from earlier:

See? Still smiling, only slightly forced. But my right eye was definitely more red and puffy by now... a sure sign that I needed to relax!

Coming up next: How many Pack N'Plays does this room have?

 

[tankgirl427]

Augh I feel for you. Seriously what right do they have to tell you your room is ready and it hasn't even been cleaned yet. Nasty!!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

Joining in! Fun to read about your US and IOA portion of the trip, it looks like we were there just a couple of weeks before you and it is interesting to see the difference.

By now we were starving. Those egg sandwiches were a long time ago. We ran into the closest place- a bakery near the entrance. I got a ham and cheese croissant and Ben got... something else. I didn't take pictures of food- even though I meant to! They weren't amazing, but they did the job.

Good to know, it looked cute from the outside but we never went in.

We headed off, our noses buried in a park map. ET was first up and our first chance to use the Express Pass that was our room key. The crowds were almost non-existent, but there were enough people waiting that is was neat to go right on in.

That Express pass was a godsend for us (we were at the HRH) but with the earlier dates, places were a lot more crowded, especially IOA. How can you not love ET!

Our circle of the park brought us to Amityville next. This was a really well themed area, but the first time we noticed the heat. Up until now, we were really comfortable outside. But this side of the park was sun-tastic and hot!

And that brings us to Jaws. Jaws, Jaws, Jaws. The guy driving our boat looked about 14, and I don't doubt he was trying to sell it. But man, that was not a good ride for us. Oh well, at least we didn't wait for it (this is also a recurring theme for the trip).

Lightening when we were there so we didn't get to go on it, bummer you had a lame driver.

We moved on to try Disaster! After Jaws, we were skeptical of this one. But it turned out to be a lot of fun. Not something we'd need to repeat, but a well done show. And I love Christopher Walken, so that helped!

we really enjoyed this one, a very pleasant surprise.

Mummy was next on the agenda and it did not disappoint. It was after this ride that Ben and I started to wonder how Universal managed to get fire into so many of its attractions. Next time you go to the parks, check it out- they've got fire all over the place!

I couldn't agree more, it got obnoxious actually

Our next stop was unfortunate... Twister was a complete puzzle to us. We actually waited longer for this than anything else because we had just missed a show starting. There was a lot of fire, but not much else. We just didn't get it.

Agreed, lame.

Continuing our circle of the park, we found ourselves at Shrek 4D. We were confused by the pre-show... it was all about how we were about to be tortured but that never happened. I mean, the show wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't torture. Again, at least we didn't wait for it.

the whole thing didn't make much sense to us, even the kids.

We had one last thing to do on our way out: Ripe Ride Rockit. This is one of the rides that doesn't have an Express Pass so we were expecting to wait.

what a difference a week or 2 makes. The wait was about an hour I think when we were there. We didn't wait.

We headed to the pool and were very pleasantly surprised. The lounge chairs were nice and comfy and there were plenty of them. There was a fun pool slide, too. We each took a couple of turns on it.

We pool hopped on our last day to the PH and the kids loved that slide.

Day 2: Beers for Breakfast!

We both started getting ready because we had somewhere to be: Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at 8AM for Universal Resort guests. We thought that meant we should be heading over to IOA by 7:30.

They let us in right at 8AM. The only part of the park open was the Hogsmeade area, so that is where everyone went. Ben and I kinda moseyed along taking pictures. Some people were running, but there just weren't enough people for us to feel like we needed to rush.

Plenty of elbow room, no craziness at all. I felt like we were in an alternate universe.

Very cool about the tickets. When we were there they were letting resort guests in even earlier, like at 7:35 and the difference in getting there at 7:35 versus 8 was pretty huge.

So we took a turn on the Dragon Challenge. I don't know what the queue area was like when this was Dueling Dragons, but I really like the Harry Potter themeing they had around the ride. I usually don't like up-side down coasters because I hit my head back and forth on the restraints. This was actually pretty smooth and I had fun!

We practically ran into a Butterbeer stand. I was so excited to try some!

I thought it was so neat that the Butterbeer kept a foamy head the whole time! As for the taste, it was really sweet. It tasted like a cream soda float. I actually liked the frozen one better- it was a little less sweet. We switched and headed over to the Forbidden Journey which was now open. But I had a full frozen Butterbeer to get through. I did my best and ended up with not just a brain freeze, but a full body freeze. While I was working on my drink, we popped into the Hog's Head for a minute. It was already open, and the bartender asked what we wanted. Ben talked to him about the Hog's Head Ale and I really thought he was going to order one. Before 9AM. But he didn't and we decided to stick with our fake beer and come back later for an adult version. I will say that it was very funny to see all the kids walking around drinking 'beer'.

The frozen was MUCH better I thought, but no way could have had a whole one. Three of us split it for breakfast.

Dueling dragons didn't really have much themeing to it before, they did a great job with it, much better now!

We got in line and walked right through. It was kinda sad to have to skip by all of the amazing things going on in Hogwarts.

By now it was 9AM and the park was open to all guests. The difference in crowds in Hogsmeade was unbelievable. It looked kinda like this (this was taken after lunch- picture about 10% less people for what it was like at 9)

It was claustrophobic and really uncomfortable. Now I was worried to see what the rest of the park would be like!

It was SO much worse earlier! We went on FJ at about 7:50 the first time, by the time we came out it was up to a 20 minute wait. We went on it again and by the time we came out, still before 9, it was up to 45 and then just went up from there.

The "running" to WWOHP was wild, especially our first day there. It was better the 2nd as I think more kids had gone back to school.

The first ride you come to is that big green coaster, The Hulk. So that is where we headed. I had heard some good things about it and I was pretty sure it was a launched coaster, which are usually my favorite. This was yet another walk on and all I can say is thank goodness we did not wait for this ride. My notes about this ride were: "OUCH! Hated it" It was so painful, slamming my head back and forth in the restraints. I didn't find it thrilling or scary, it just hurt! I took a moment to recover, and when I felt up to it we headed to Spiderman.
Not only did we not wait, we had the whole car to ourselves! This was a ride that lived up to my expectations. And it had plenty of fire.

We did ride Jurassic Park, because it didn't seem to be to big on the splishy-splashy.

Look, more extra fire!
This was a great ride. I love the music! We only got sprinkled, not wet at all.

too bad you didn't like the hulk, we really love it. Spidey rocks! You must not have been in the front of the boat for JP. We got DRENCHED!

After standing in Margaritaville's gift shop for a while, we finally could go in to eat. This place was fun- good atmosphere and we had a friendly server. I had the crab cake sandwich and Ben ordered fish tacos.
Having already had a beer (well, a fake one...) I figured it had to be 5 o'clock somewhere...
If the waiter hadn't carded me, I would've sworn this was a virgin margarita. Which is probably not a bad thing except that it cost $9.
This was an expensive lunch, but we were lucky to get our AAA discount- $3 dollars off! Woohoo, we're rich!

I'm glad we ate here, but probably don't need to go back.

Oh that's a bummer. It is pricey but the burgers are fabulous. We stuck to lager in the restaurant and then did the half price margaritas at happy hour at the lone palm airport outside.

Bluto's Bilgerat Barges were up first. We got drenched and had a blast. One of the best raft rides I've been on!
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls was next. This may have been my favorite Universal ride... definitely top 3. It was funny and well themed and we got wet all over again.

Both of those looked like a lot of fun, I didn't do either but my kids got completely drenched on the barges.

We finally made it into the castle... and got to experience the best queue ever. I'm not going to talk about anything in there. Plenty of spoilers can be found if you want to know, but I really enjoyed being surprised.
The ride was still great!

The Hog's Head wasn't very busy, so we stopped in for a beer. The special ale made for this place was actually pretty good! We had fun in there- it has a great atmosphere. It made the list of things we wanted to re-do before leaving.

I agree, about the queue and the hogs head red!

[/QUOTE]

The soiled baby...EEW!

Day 3: We made $20 bucks!

And each sat down at a computer with headphones to watch a new sitcom. Man, oh man, $10 was not enough to be paying people to watch this show. It was bad. Really bad. Not funny, not entertaining. The pilot actually premieres this Wednesday- I can't imagine it will go on much more than the one episode...

Ugh, the 20 bucks is cool but drag that you lost an hour to that.

We passed Poseidon's Fury Stuntshow and figured we'd check it out. The building was really elaborate and we thought that much effort for a stunt show must mean it would be pretty good. Boy, were we wrong! After waiting for a while, we were led into a room. Throughout a ridiculous plot with a weak story, we moved from room to room with a crowd of people. We actually almost got squeezed out of one room... I wonder what would've happened to us if we were left behind?
The one redeeming thing was the water hallway. Otherwise, it was bad. And it won the title of the worst attraction ever. Ever.

Not sure about EVER but it was pretty awful.

Free from that ADVENTURE, we ended up at the Backwater Bar on the way out of the park. It was happy hour and we got a couple of cheaper beers. Universal was very strict about carding and sticking to their one drink per ID rule. I had to get up and wave for Ben to get two beers.

So true, I had to wave at my DH as well at the Lone Palm Airport and I definitely don't look like I need carding!



What a drag about your less than magical arrival at the Poly...I hope it gets better though by the pack and play comment fear it does not.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

I don't think that I could have remained calm as much as I would have wanted to. I remember when we saw our room in Vegas and it wasn't a king bed but two queens and in order to see the strip you had to lean over the chair...I lost it. I was a hot mess!

Another cliff hanger?! I want to see the room already!!!!!

 

[Joyciemc]

Augh I feel for you. Seriously what right do they have to tell you your room is ready and it hasn't even been cleaned yet. Nasty!!!!!

In the moment, it was all so strange that we weren't even all that upset- just super confused!

Joining in! Fun to read about your US and IOA portion of the trip, it looks like we were there just a couple of weeks before you and it is interesting to see the difference.

Welcome
I liked hearing your views on US/IOA! Having never been before, I didn't know if I was hating beloved US rides or not... glad to know that in most cases I'm not alone in the assessments! I really don't know what happened with Hulk. But it hurt, a lot!

I don't think that I could have remained calm as much as I would have wanted to. I remember when we saw our room in Vegas and it wasn't a king bed but two queens and in order to see the strip you had to lean over the chair...I lost it. I was a hot mess!

Another cliff hanger?! I want to see the room already!!!!!

It's almost a problem with me- I want to keep everything 'ok' and almost never get outwardly upset in situations like this. I need to learn to be a bit more assertive and speak up for myself sometimes!

Sorry about the cliff hanger! I had to write that last post twice cause it got eaten and just didn't have it in me to make it any longer. But since this is my 'weekend', another post should be along this evening- never fear!

 

[tankgirl427]

HAA HAAA HAA you and BF are on the same weekend schedule. I'm sitting here at work and he's at home enjoying the beautiful day!

Now show us the new room!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Joyciemc]

HAA HAAA HAA you and BF are on the same weekend schedule. I'm sitting here at home and he's at home enjoying the beautiful day!

Now show us the new room!!!!!!!!!!

I am at the end of my rope with my work schedule. I wish I could get a Mon-Fri job... but I would feel so guilty leaving the shelter... ugh.

Anyway, nothing helps avoid real-life problems like writing a trip report...

 

[Joyciemc]

More Day 4: Let's finally start this!

I was thrilled to see that there were no unexpected objects to be found in our new room. We had just enough time to take in the fact that this room was ok when there was a knock on the door. I have to admit my first thought was that someone from the Poly was checking on us to make sure we were ok this time. Nope, it was a maintenance guy coming to replace the phone. At least we knew our phone worked, now.
I took a few pictures before we finally headed out to get something to eat.

This was our view:

Much better! Though there was a random plastic bag on the sofa

Wembly and Figment hunkered down to get in the Island spirit

Now I'll just get this out of the way right now: We didn't love it. Our room, that is. We still love the amenities of the Poly, but the guest room just left us feeling 'eh'. It was dark- even with all the lights on we just couldn't get it to feel bright. The room was decent size, but small compared to the Portofino. It had a flat screen TV, but the cable quality wasn't great and the channel selections minimal (we were not planning on watching much TV, so this wasn't an issue, really)
That is 100% our opinion, and I am sure it was influenced by:
-Coming from the Portofino which is a very different sort of place
-The fiasco with the Samoa room
-All of the anticipation and expectations we put on the Poly
-Knowing how much they charge here rack rate

We probably won't be staying here again, but that has a lot to do with a completely unrelated event that will happen later and not because the Poly was so bad. For those heading there soon: Have fun and don't worry! The room itself was fine, I was just left underwhelmed because of all those things I listed above.

We practically ran back to the Grand Ceremonial house (Tahiti is a good distance away, but not a bad walk at all) to get some food. We were running on fumes and barely capable of being civil to each other. It was after 11AM and we decided that lunch at Captain Cook's would be the quickest way to get some food in us. We ordered Aloha Pork sandwiches with polynesian chips and a dole whip. Yep, we got the exact same thing. We also got bottles of water with our CS meal to save for later- we bought refillable mugs so I could drink my weight in Coke Zero during the week (I love that stuff!)
The ordering process was painless and we got our pager to wait for our food. After a while, Ben went up to check and our food was ready- our pager never went off It's ok- things were about to get a lot better with some food in our mouths.

I had been looking forward to this sandwich and it did not dissapoint! Very yummy. By the time I finished my Dole whip, I was a happy girl again and thrilled to be in WDW and at the Poly (I do still love the place!).
We had not planned to be here already, as we thought we'd stay at the Universal parks today. What to do with this extra time? Well, we just had to pop over to MK, of course!
We walked to the TTC, because our room was on the way there and we wanted to drop our mugs off. We were thrilled when we realized just how close we were to the TTC... so easy to get to both MK and Epcot! Yippee!

I had never been here much before, but we got to know this place very well:

There was a poster advertising the upcoming Secretariat movie. When I read it, I thought the tag line was 'The Important Story'. So then I started wondering what the unimportant story about Secretariat would be... like what kind of grain he ate and what color water bucket he drank out of. It was funny at the time. For those wondering, it actually said "The Impossible True Story" Mine is better, I think.

Our first monorail ride of the trip!

I was surprised to see that MK was already decked out for Halloween.

This is the obligatory 'first view of the Castle shot':

It was great to finally be here! But we quickly noticed that the park was crowded! We were not too concerned because we still planned on coming back for EMH later that night.
We also noticed that it was hot. Very hot. And super humid. We didn't go far, just headed to Tomorrowland to grab some Space Mountain fastpasses.

The only thing we wanted to be sure to do was Philharmagic. This would be Ben's first time seeing it since having Lasik surgery. He was looking forward to a 3-D movie without wearing his glasses!
I was so sad as we headed over there and saw the Fantasyland pile o'dirt. It was very disorienting- all my usual landmarks were gone and we actually had a hard time finding Philharmagic!
When we did find it, we walked right in. We love this attraction and Ben thought it was so much better now that he only had to wear the one pair of glasses! As we walked out of the theater, Ben noticed that the way a light lined up with a sign was pretty funny:

The wait for the Haunted Mansion was 40 minutes, so we walked by and decided to just go ride the People Mover until it was time for our Space FP.
On the way, we asked a Photopass CM to take our picture.

Right after she took our picture, she accidentally bumped a lady with her camera lens. The woman stopped and gave the CM a death stare. She apologized profusely, and asked if she was ok. 'I was', said the woman as she kept rubbing her elbow. She moaned a bit more and the CM finally asked her if she needed to go to First Aid. Suddenly, the lady stopped milking it said she was fine and continued on.

We were still in awe of hoe crowded the park was. There was even a line for the People Mover! It went back to the Astro Orbiter line. The line for Buzz was too long and we needed AC so we headed into the arcade at the exit for Space. I bought a drink and we just cooled off for a little bit. It still wasn't time for our FPs yet, and the stand-by line was an hour long. At least the People Mover was finally down to just a short line (only a little past the ramp) so we took a spin on that.

We very much enjoyed our trip around Tomorrowland and when it was over, we finally rode Space Mountain (space.... space..... space mountain. If you have ridden it lately, you may recognize that from the music they play now. I loved it!)
We knew when we were done with this that we had to head out of there. It was just too crowded and we weren't feeling the MK love that we usually do.
So we got on a very convenient Monorail and headed back to the Poly.
This was our little tiki friend near the path to the TTC

When we got back to the room, we quickly unpacked. I noticed a hidden Mickey in this picture, and Ben found 2 more!

It was about the time of day that we were used to taking a pool break, so that was our next plan of action.
Would the Poly pool be as much of a gem as Portofino's?

Up next: We sure did a lot this day...

 

[Missyrose]

Now I'll just get this out of the way right now: We didn't love it. Our room, that is. We still love the amenities of the Poly, but the guest room just left us feeling 'eh'. It was dark- even with all the lights on we just couldn't get it to feel bright. The room was decent size, but small compared to the Portofino. It had a flat screen TV, but the cable quality wasn't great and the channel selections minimal (we were not planning on watching much TV, so this wasn't an issue, really)
That is 100% our opinion, and I am sure it was influenced by:
-Coming from the Portofino which is a very different sort of place
-The fiasco with the Samoa room
-All of the anticipation and expectations we put on the Poly
-Knowing how much they charge here rack rate

Isn't that the worst, when you're so excited about a place and have built it up so much and then it just falls below your expectations? Hopefully this not-so-wonderful start to your Disney part of the week is the only low point in an otherwise WONDERFUL trip!

 

[JMat]

I dont even know what to say. Im a little upset at your experience. They Poly has always been such a highlight of my trips and the service was always so on point. Im sorry you had to go through that I cant imagine counting down hours and taking a "ON OUR WAY!" to the Poly pic and then be greeted with that. Thats a mouse buzz-kill.

Other than that the 'dumb' ride sign made me laugh out loud, and as always im having fun on the journey through your TR.

...and girlfriend, let me tell you- you better eat WAY more Dole Whips!

xo

 

[Joyciemc]

Isn't that the worst, when you're so excited about a place and have built it up so much and then it just falls below your expectations? Hopefully this not-so-wonderful start to your Disney part of the week is the only low point in an otherwise WONDERFUL trip!

I've never checked into a dirty room before and definitely didn't expect it to happen at a Disney resort! But mistakes happen and it in no way ruined our trip, we had plenty of fun ahead of us...

I dont even know what to say. Im a little upset at your experience. They Poly has always been such a highlight of my trips and the service was always so on point. Im sorry you had to go through that I cant imagine counting down hours and taking a "ON OUR WAY!" to the Poly pic and then be greeted with that. Thats a mouse buzz-kill.

Other than that the 'dumb' ride sign made me laugh out loud, and as always im having fun on the journey through your TR.

...and girlfriend, let me tell you- you better eat WAY more Dole Whips!

xo

I almost felt silly for how excited I got before our Poly arrival. I really thought there was no way we'd be disappointed in that place!

Ben's new laser eyes helped him see a lot of new things... including that sign! I just noticed that there is also a lady in that pic that has some 'opera glasses' still on her head!

 

[7mtina]

You have me so hooked on your trip report! My husband and I have been married 24 years and are headed to WDW in 4 weeks....without the kids! WooHoo!! So, I started reading some trip reports...never thought I would be so into one.

Can't wait for your next post...and hope I am reading another great trip report when you guys have been married 24 years yourselves! Congrats to the newlyweds!

 

[eandesmom]

I can see where going from Portofino to the Poly would be hard, Portofino looks stunning. I had somewhat a similar reaction, though in reverse, going from the Yacht Club to the Hard Rock.

But the important thing is you are there and made it to the MK! Crowds look UGH though.

 

[Stefy]

Omigoodness I can't believe your room hadn't even been cleaned Its not good when your first experience of staying at the resort you have dreamed about turns a bit sour, but I am glad that the CM was expedient in rectifying the situation and for scoring you a room with a balcony too

DF is going to be room checker when we check in, he's looking up how to spot bed bugs and will be checking that the room has been cleaned, as we have heard the horror stories of some Mousekeeping experiences.

The Aloha Pork sandwich looks delish and a Dole Whip to finish off is always good

Loving all your pics, I must admit I got very excited when I saw your castle shot

Looking forward to more

 

[annmarieda]

That sucks that the room was not truly ready for you! I am glad they got you into a new room, but sad it wasn't as great as maybe it could be. I love the perks you get for staying on property, but...lets face it..I think the rooms themselves are not as nice as you could get off site...and cost soo much more.

MK was really packed the days we went as well. I guess I was dumb and didn't think that sunday and monday would be bad days to go to MK...especially with EMH...oh well, we still had a good time. I just wish the crowds were a bit less. (as well as the heat)

 

[Joyciemc]

You have me so hooked on your trip report! My husband and I have been married 24 years and are headed to WDW in 4 weeks....without the kids! WooHoo!! So, I started reading some trip reports...never thought I would be so into one.

Can't wait for your next post...and hope I am reading another great trip report when you guys have been married 24 years yourselves! Congrats to the newlyweds!

Awwww, you're making me blush! Thank you so much for your very sweet comment! And thanks for reading!

Adults only trip in 4 weeks? That is something to celebrate! Where will you be staying?

I can see where going from Portofino to the Poly would be hard, Portofino looks stunning. I had somewhat a similar reaction, though in reverse, going from the Yacht Club to the Hard Rock.

But the important thing is you are there and made it to the MK! Crowds look UGH though.

It's true- we didn't realize just how nice the Portofino would be... if we had, we may have changed our trip around a little!

Crowds caught us off guard- we thought Labor Day weekend would be busy, but not quite that bad!

Omigoodness I can't believe your room hadn't even been cleaned Its not good when your first experience of staying at the resort you have dreamed about turns a bit sour, but I am glad that the CM was expedient in rectifying the situation and for scoring you a room with a balcony too

DF is going to be room checker when we check in, he's looking up how to spot bed bugs and will be checking that the room has been cleaned, as we have heard the horror stories of some Mousekeeping experiences.

The Aloha Pork sandwich looks delish and a Dole Whip to finish off is always good

Loving all your pics, I must admit I got very excited when I saw your castle shot

Looking forward to more

That lunch was amazing- partly because we were both starving and partly because it was so darn tasty!

That sucks that the room was not truly ready for you! I am glad they got you into a new room, but sad it wasn't as great as maybe it could be. I love the perks you get for staying on property, but...lets face it..I think the rooms themselves are not as nice as you could get off site...and cost soo much more.

MK was really packed the days we went as well. I guess I was dumb and didn't think that sunday and monday would be bad days to go to MK...especially with EMH...oh well, we still had a good time. I just wish the crowds were a bit less. (as well as the heat)

The convenience of our location was awesome, and you'll see that we really did enjoy the Poly as a whole!

We had been over Labor Day 3 years ago and it wasn't this crowded, so we were surprised! But it seemed to be just MK that was bad..

 

[mefordis]

LOVE the trip report and look forward to each and every update! I sooo sooo agree with your observations of Fantasy Land. It was a bummer for me to see all those walls up. I look forward to seeing what they have done in a couple of years, though, when I plan to take my next trip.

You guys vacation a lot like how we used to, before we had kids. I can see our itinerary and hotel choices being exactly like yours. I miss those days a LOT!

It looks like you are taking full advantage of your time together so good for you!