Why is there a Disney waiter at my door!?

[OneTreeHillAddict]

We're back! We were in the World from August 28th 'til Sept 7th! We split our stay between the Polynesian and the Pop Century Resorts. We had the deluxe dining package (upgraded from the free dining and paid the difference). We did the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Wonderland Tea Party, MNSSHP, the Jedi Training at MGM, and the Pirate Tutorial at the MK (with who Joy calls the "hot" Jack). I took about 3000 pictures this time...and the Photopass ended up with about 500 before edits. (I still have to do that and order the thing!) Those will come later. I'm going to do this day by day...hopefully some of ya'll from my PTR (which can be found here http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1874507 ) will come over here and join me.

Day 1 ~ we got up about 2AM and left here around 3:30. The roads were empty and we made great time. We made it to Orlando in less than 8 hours this time with three stops! The drive down was wonderful. No traffic, great weather, etc. (FYI we obey the speed limit too. No speeding for us) <--- I know, I know...nerd alert. Here are some pics from the ride down. This is me. (BTW every pic you see of me at WDW will look this BAD or WORSE!) It's 100 degrees there in the Summer so hair stays pulled back and I don't wear much makeup...you've been warned!


Anyway, after a quick stop (an appointment in Orlando) we headed towards the Polynesian. We got their a little before 2PM. We'd stopped and had lunch at Chick fi la (the last outside meal we'd have for days!) We had booked three different hotels during the planning of this trip. Animal Kingdom...then Wilderness Lodge...and then at the last minute we swapped WL for Poly. ($238 a night...a little bit of a discount) We were able to check into our room early (yay!) Here are some pics...














We had a 10th anniversary note on our ressie that our travel agent had put in. The sweet lady at the front desk gave us anniversary buttons and gorgeous floral leis. (Made of fresh flowers) We had to do this kissy thing as we put the leis on one another. It was so much fun. The staff at Poly was phenominal! (I'll show 'em to ya soon)

We were in the TUVALU building on the third floor with a Magic Kingdom view. The balcony kind of freaked me out at first with a 2 year old but we would bring in the patio furniture at night and double lock the doors. (Just to be safe) A few years ago at the resort my mom works at a little baby fell from a balcony to it's death and that has been on my mind ever since. Now anytime we stay somewhere like that I bring the furniture in just in case the kids do get on the balcony they can't "climb" on something and fall. I know it sounds crazy but better safe than sorry right? Here are a couple of pictures of our view.




The kids were itching to get on the pool after that long drive so off we went. They loved the slide! The baby loved the waterfall. After an hour or so in the pool we saw a storm starting up. We changed, and got ready for DTD and Planet Hollywood. Thanks to some great Dis friends we had $45 in PH vouchers.
Wow! I just realized it's 4AM...not good when I have to get up at 6:30. I'll finish day one soon. I promise!

[dkshan96]

Yay I am the first to post!! Sounds like a great start, love the pics! Too funny your little one in his car seat on the way to Disney, actually adorable!

Kelli

[hlrababy]

Hey girly!!!!!

I am here!!

[hlrababy]

Awww, you know I think you look beautiful girl!!!!!

Whooo hoooo, go Sidney with the Dale Jr car!!

[heath-and-javens-mom]

IM HERE _ IM HERE!! Great start!!!!!

Dane says that next year we need to make some dinner reservations together or something, he wanted to spend more time with you and Sidney, as did I. Maybe we will get over to MB for Spring break and hang out with you guys.

[AZMickeyfans]

I'm really eating popcorn for breakfast reading your TR!

Great start. You look beautiful! Such a cute family! I CANNOT wait to see all of your pictures!

Great pictures of the Poly! Those leis are real? Awesome. They are Gorgeous!

[disneymom1980]

I'm jumping on here too.....after the wonderful advice in your BBB thread, I can't wait to see your trip report. And, it's good to finally put a face with a name (at least a DIS name ).

[linmc1129]

I'm on board. Can't wait to hear all about the trip. The Poly looks awesome.

[Jenna319]

Subbing! Can't wait to read more!

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Originally Posted by dkshan96

Yay I am the first to post!! Sounds like a great start, love the pics! Too funny your little one in his car seat on the way to Disney, actually adorable!

Kelli

Thanks. I thought he looked so comfy with his leg kicked up and all. I just can't sleep in a car when someone else is driving. (Unless I'm pregnant...then I can sleep at any given time) But I hope that never happens again!

Originally Posted by hlrababy

Awww, you know I think you look beautiful girl!!!!!

Whooo hoooo, go Sidney with the Dale Jr car!!

Thanks girl but at WDW I always look like a sloppy mess. I want to go back this Fall when it cools down. My annual trip used to be every January. I miss the colder weather. Ya know NASCAR Sports Grille closed while we were gone. They were open then suddenly shut down and out of there in like 3 days!

Originally Posted by heath-and-javens-mom

IM HERE _ IM HERE!! Great start!!!!!

Dane says that next year we need to make some dinner reservations together or something, he wanted to spend more time with you and Sidney, as did I. Maybe we will get over to MB for Spring break and hang out with you guys.

I know. I think we'd all get along real good if we had some time to hang out. Did you see the tour buses at Grand Floridian? Rumor has it that it was the Jonas Brothers but those people didn't look like Jonas's to me. They looked more like the Manson family. JB was around the area though. If you guys come for Spring Break we'll have more time to chill. Disney is too hustle and bustle. Especially when you book three meals a day and have friends meet up. BTW Joy loved Dane's tats. She has a lot of 'em too. She thought he was sexy (but too "old" for her....more on that later... ) You and Dane make a great couple BTW!

Originally Posted by AZMickeyfans

I'm really eating popcorn for breakfast reading your TR!

Great start. You look beautiful! Such a cute family! I CANNOT wait to see all of your pictures!

Great pictures of the Poly! Those leis are real? Awesome. They are Gorgeous!

Popcorn!? Well okay then. I'd like to hit up Donald's breakfast at the Animal Kingdom right about now! Not long now 'til you guys revisit your love nest!!! Excited??? Huh? I bet you are!!! Yep, the leis are real! That was such a nice gesture. I have to send Ms Kathy a THANK YOU letter. She really went out of her way to make our trip extra special! I hope the seedlings make it! If not we'll try again with the right zip code this time. Was I close at guessing?

Originally Posted by disneymom1980

I'm jumping on here too.....after the wonderful advice in your BBB thread, I can't wait to see your trip report. And, it's good to finally put a face with a name (at least a DIS name ).

Welcome aboard! We tried the BBB again. All I can say about that is....stick to the one at DTD. We did not like the castle very much! More on that later.

Originally Posted by linmc1129

I'm on board. Can't wait to hear all about the trip. The Poly looks awesome.

Welcome! I have a lot to share but it'll take a me a few days to get my pictures in order. The Polynesian was wonderful but I'll try somewhere else next time. I had to see what all the hype was about.

Originally Posted by Jenna319

Subbing! Can't wait to read more!

Hi Jenna!!! I hope to have more up later today!

I'm trying to answer with a multi quote this time so I don't make the thread so long. I hope it works...we'll see.

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Okay...so we were headed to DTD and the rain came. This trip was filled with named storms by the way! Gustav, Hanna, & even the threat of Ike. Blessings in disguise I call them. Many many people left WDW because of the storms so the park attendance was very low. And the rain actually cooled things down and the wind and breeze!? Welcome anytime. So we were happy to see the storms make an appearance. I think we had like two rain days out of the 11 where it was icky. (But we get those days anyway when we go for an extended trip to Disney) All in all this was a GREAT time to be there! Oh, here is a close up of the lei's.


So, first stop was Planet Hollywood. Right when I got to the steps Gavin's "In Love with a Girl" video started. I took it as a good sign. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table (you know how restaurants fill up the second rain begins). The tables are packed in the place and you literally sit on top of one another. I'm not a big fan of PH (we have one here and it's really gross) but we had the $15 voucher plus two others we were given by some really cool Disers. (Thanks again!) So we ordered a couple of things (even $45 doesn't go far in there) and yes you can use as many vouchers per table as you wish. They're the same as cash we were told. We ordered a cheescake, a brownie, a pork sandwich, and a cheeseteak sandwich. Came right out to the $45. I think the difference was less than a dollar. The food was okay. Nothing to cheer about but better than the PH here! While eating the DJ blessed us with another Gavin song. I'm still sad we missed him. I hope he comes this way before too long.


After a stop at the Lego store it was time for us to get back to the Poly. I wanted to catch the boat parade from the balcony. The girl at the Lego Store overcharged us though so we had to go back and get that fixed. And we missed the water parade! We settled down and waited on Wishes. This was the best part about this room. Sidney took a few pics of the fireworks and the night view. It was beautiful! I will say that!


















After the fireworks we all got ready for bed. DD lost a tooth and we left that for Tinkerbell. Then we were all off to dream land....

[caitty13]

Great TR. I was at the Poly too from 8/30-9/4.

[hlrababy]

Awww man! The view from your room is awesome!!!!!!!

Now, tell me about Nascar grill! they did the same thing to the one in Pigeon Forge. Some of the workers showed up and it was closed!!!

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Originally Posted by caitty13

Great TR. I was at the Poly too from 8/30-9/4.

Oh yeah!? That's cool! I stayed there the nights of the 28th and 29th. We were going to transfer for the whole time but nothing at all was available anywhere on the 30th. I guess people's trips overlapped on that day or something?

Originally Posted by hlrababy

Awww man! The view from your room is awesome!!!!!!!

Now, tell me about Nascar grill! they did the same thing to the one in Pigeon Forge. Some of the workers showed up and it was closed!!!

I loved that view! I watched WISHES in my undies right from the bed (yep...I left all my gowns at home!) How stupid was that!? I was so busy getting everyone else's stuff together that I left my own!

Can you believe that!? They just up and closed! Glad they didn't owe us any money! My sister was a manager there before Hard Rock Park. She said, "Great! THAT was my back up!" I'd be so po'ed if I had been working there. What a way to close up shop. They called us about a week before we left for WDW to get an estimate on removing a moldy wall and putting in an all new one. All I can say is it must have been really bad! The building had a lot of leaks and problems. There's no telling what happened when the health guy came. Weird thing....they just remodeled the whole place! EVERYTHING! They had just added TV's to every table, bought all new games, remodeled the entire eating area....new tables, new benches, all of that! Now it's closed and empty!

[bentleygirl22]

I'm here also....
what a great start girlie ....
can't wait to read more ... sorry we didn't get the chance to meet while we were both down there.. next time for sure.....