"I think I'm in love, and her name is Polynesia..." an Aug/Sept '15 TR (NEW TR link @ end!)

[skier_pete]

Come one, come all, and take a look at our newest Trip Report!

For those that haven’t been following along on my PTR – a little bit about ourselves and the circumstances of the trip.



We are a family of three Disney addicts. I (Skier_Pete) have been traveling to Disney World since I was 2 years old. DW first went with my in 1997 when we first started dating, and DD(now 12) first went in 2006 as a 3 year old.

DD is on her 9th trip, DW and I on our 12th together. Last year we took the plunge and bought into DVC via resale. We are owners at Animal Kingdom Lodge, but we haven’t stayed there yet. Last year, DW and I took a short stay in the fall to visit for Food and Wine and stay at SSR. This trip was our first family DVC trip, and I will tell you it was a rousing success.

Our DD is now a 7th grader, and while we used to take her out of school for Disney trips, we are more hesitant now. Fortunately, our school system doesn’t start school until after labor day, so we were able to take advantage of the slow season at the end of August/beginning of September. I also get a four-day weekend for Labor Day – so we were able to swing an 11-day vacation with only needing 5 vacation days for myself. (DW had 6, but her job is more flexible with days off.) We usually try to stretch our trips to 9 or 10 days, so 11 days was a real luxury.

With being new to DVC, we wanted to try at least two resorts - at one point we were considering 3, but shot that down pretty quickly. We originally were targeting Beach Club and Bay Lake Tower / Contemporary, but after the news of the Polynesian broke, we decided to replace BLT with the Poly. We were able to get the dates we wanted and the point totals were slightly more than our annual allotment (176 points used, we have 160 points annually). Flights were booked and plans were slowly set in place.

Before I get into the meat of the trip report – I just want to say anyone expecting high quality photos may be a bit disappointed. I use three photo sources, the best of which is our Nikon CoolPix which is still just a basic point and shoot. We also have a Kodak water camera that takes decent pictures, and then there’s my phone…which is handy but the quality often leaves something to be desired. Finally, there’s the photopass pictures. All told, I probably have about 850 pictures to choose from, so what you are missing in quality I will make up for in quantity.

Trip Report officially starts in just two posts!

 

[skier_pete]

Table of Contents:

Day 1 - Arrival and Typhoon Lagoon - LINK

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios - EMH - LINK
Day 2 - Hollywood Studios - Catching up on shows LINK
Day 2 - Evening at Epcot - San Angel Inn LINK

Day 3 - Blizzard Beach LINK
Day 3 - Yachtsmen and Jellyrolls LINK

Day 4 - Disney YES - "Everyday Chemistry" LINK
Day 4 - Characters & French Wine LINK
Day 4 - Via Napoli and Illuminations LINK

Day 5 - Morning at Animal Kingdom - Safari and Everest! LINK
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - Dinosaur and Flame Tree BBQ LINK
Day 5 - YES Program Animal Behavior, Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster LINK
Day 5 - Dinner in Epcot LINK

Day 6 - Epcot - A late morning in Epcot & Lunch in Germany LINK
Day 6 - More World Showcase LINK
Day 6 - Beaches and Cream / Frozen Fun @ DHS LINK

Day 7 - DTD and T-Rex Cafe LINK
Day 7 - DTD and Disney Quest LINK
Day 7 - Our room at the Poly LINK
Day 7 - More of the Poly resort LINK

Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - Adventureland LINK
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - Frontierland and Liberty Square LINK
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - Fantasyland & Storybook Circus LINK
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - 7DMT and Gaston's LINK
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - Be Our Guest LINK
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - Splash Mountain and the boat to the Poly LINK
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom - Evening in Tomorrowland LINK

Day 9 - Animal Kingdom - Safari, FOW, and FOTLK LINK
Day 9 - Animal Kingdom / Polynesian resort pool LINK

Day 10 - Breakfast at O'Hana LINK
Day 10 - Magic Kingdom - Fantasyland and Tomorrowland LINK
Day 10 - Lunch at CHH - evening at Epcot LINK

Day 11 - Magic Kingdom - A DISmeet, a ride, and Tony's Town Square LINK
Day 11 - Magic Kingdom - Festival of Fantasy LINK

Trip Wrap Up - LINK

 

[skier_pete]

The summer slowly wound down and it was time to leave on our trip. We had our bags packed and we rolled out of bed to get to the airport. Nothing exciting at all happened on our trip, which is exactly as you would want it, so before we knew it, we were landing at the Orlando airport and on the monorail to the Magical Express!

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We were the first stop and I swear it was less than an hour from when we were stepping off the plane to when we were waltzing through the front doors of the Beach Club.

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Now, I can’t say this is our first time at the Beach Club lobby – we have been to this resort several times over the years – so it wasn’t anything new. What WAS new is that it was going to be our home for the next SIX days!



Understand - we are NOT normally deluxe people. We've done ONE deluxe stay before at AKL, and other than that we've stayed mostly moderate with the occasional value trip. I am also a bargain traveler so we rarely stay in the fancy resorts. This really was a big deal to us!

I really wanted to take it all in, but the fact was we were here way too early for our room to be ready, and we had planned to go to a water park first thing. So, we changed our shoes and got out the sunscreen, checked our carry-ons with Bell Services, and headed out to the bus stop.

The plan had been to go to whatever park bus showed up first, but when the Blizzard Beach bus arrived, DD decided that she only wanted Typhoon Lagoon, so we waited a few more minutes. WE hopped the bus and then had the tortuous ride of going to Typhoon Lagoon. See TL is on the DTD bus route, and the DTD bus has to travel ALL the way around the block, so it FELT like it took longer to get from BC to TL then to get from the airplane to Beach Club. In truth, it probably took less than 40 minutes, but it seemed like forever. Finally TL is in view!

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We got to the park and it was pretty crowded, at least enough so that we had a hard time finding a place to sit. We started out getting a locker for our valuables (which I didn’t trust to leave with bell services – jewelery and cash and electronics) and then an order of Mini-Donuts to share. Can’t go to the water parks without mini-donuts!



DD wanted to hit the wave pool first thing. For those that have never been to Typhoon Lagoon, the wave pool drops these insane 5 foot waves roughly every two minutes that batter you silly. It can be a lot of fun but also sometimes you get caught wrong and you get water up your nose and hate it.

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For whatever reason, the waves were running VERY intermittent. Like they only sent down about 3 waves in 20 minutes. Part of that was that a lifeguard had to jump in to help out someone who was struggling, which led to them resetting the waves which took a while. At one point, the wave pools started doing normal gentle waves, and all the people in the wave pool started BOO-ing. Loudly. The waves stopped, and eventually started coming regularly. Once they did, DD enjoyed them for about 6 waves and then was ready to move on.

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So, we moved on to the lazy river, floating around to the raft rides. I wanted to do the family ride, but the line was way long (30-40 minutes) so we settled for one of the single tube rides. It was about a 15 minute wait. (This was around 1 PM by now.) After that, we hopped back in the lazy river to get back to our stuff and have some lunch.

We went to the counter service station for lunch over where we had put our towels, called Typhoon Tilly’s. We’d never eaten anywhere but Leaning Palms before, but this place was really good! DD saw they had a chocolate chip waffle with fruit, and even though I thought this seemed like more of a dessert, DW let her get it. DW and I got the shrimp basket with Fries. The shrimp were actually amazingly good. We had breaded shrimp a few times over the trip, and I have to say these were the best, plump and juicy and cooked just right. We actually got a water park mug earlier, figuring we would be coming to the water parks multiple times.

After lunch, DD wanted to do the shark reef. The last time we were at Typhoon Lagoon 4 years ago, she couldn’t get enough of this. There was no-one at the park and she swam across it multiple times in a row, just getting out and going back to the beginning. Well, she was excited to do it again, but this time it was rather crowded. I think she got bumped into a couple of times, so after she did it once, she said that it made her scared and she didn’t want to go on it anymore. (I didn’t take any pictures – thinking we would be back another time.)

After Shark Reef we went back in the wave pool for a short time, while DW did the lazy river again. DD had enough and was ready to go back to the hotel. It was probably about 3 PM by this time. We had plans to meet our best man and his family, who were wrapping up a trip of their own, so we wanted some time to get back and rest for a bit.

We returned to the resort and had our room all set. After a quick stop at the front desk to fix our room charge - our MB weren’t working at the water park, fortunately I had been prepared for such an event – we headed to our DVC room.

First impressions of the room – a nice room, but I have to say it was a bit smaller than I was expecting. Or more to the point, the kitchen/bathroom/closets/hall take up enough space that the actual living area seemed a bit on the small side. (The official square footage is ~350 square feet, which isn’t bad.) Honestly, it was plenty of room for the three of us.

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DD wasn’t happy about the sofa bed and was threatening to take the main bed.

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In the end, we found that we left out the sofa bed the whole time, and we never really felt cramped. It might’ve been different with 4 people in the room, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

The sink for the bathroom was out in the main room, which the toilet and shower were separate. This is always nice because you can wash up. There was only one sink though.

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The kitchenette area was actually much nicer than I was expecting. There was a pretty decent amount of counterspace to work, and between the microwave and toaster it left for a lot of options for breakfast.


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As we sat in the room waiting for our friends to call – it started to POUR outside. It rained for a good several hours, so we kind of postponed our get-together a while, I finally went out and met them about 6:30 PM.

I just want to take a minute and discuss the lie of the 20-minute afternoon shower. This is not our first late-summer rodeo at Disney World, and we were not surprised by the weather, but want to point out that in no way shape or form does it ever rain 20-minutes and then stop in central Florida. We didn’t have rain every afternoon, but those that we did all came about the same way – it would POUR cats and dogs for about 30-40 minutes, and then it would continue to RAIN steadily between a light rain and drizzle for the next 2-3 hours. Consistent. If you ever experienced the “20 minute rain” consider yourself lucky.

Our friends were staying at the Beach Club as well, this was their first trip to Disney with their kids (3-boys, 14, 12 and 10). They had a good time for sure. We got to see the new refurbished rooms in the true Beach Club hotel. They were pretty nice rooms, felt a little more spacious, but really might have been because they lacked the kitchenette. We took a walk over towards Boardwalk and ended up eating at the Big River Grille and Brewery Works. This was a first for us, though they had already eaten here twice on the trip. (They didn’t plan the trip much ahead, so booking options were limited.) I didn’t take any pictures of the food. For some reason this first day my food porn index way off. I ordered a beer flight – which was almost a bargain. You got 7 – 3 oz tastes of all their beers, but it was only $8. They charged $7 for a regular 16 oz beer. I had the burger, while DD had the chicken alfredo which she liked a lot. I can’t remember now what DW had. (See the importance of taking pictures!) The other family I didn’t note, but I DO know they ordered the ribs for two of their boys, and they were so had that they had to send them back. They had had this other nights and had said it was quite good, but tonight was not. They took it off the bill. We used our DVC discount and I paid for dinner. (I felt like our friends were taking time out of their vacation to visit us. They had probably spent at least twice as much for their 7 day trip as we did for our 11-day trip, and felt it would be nice to treat them.)


We sat and talked a while, and then afterwards came and hung out at the resort for a short time. By the time dinner was over it was close to 9 PM and we were all pretty tired after a long outing, in fact DD went up to bed early and we went to the DVC community room and played a little bit of pool. It was really nice to see them, but we were up for a long day the next day, and so we opted to go to bed early!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

I'm on board! Looking forward to your report.

 

[AllysonL]

Subbing in!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Cant wait to hear all the details, Peter! Looks like you are off to a great start!

 

[Dentam]

We were in WDW last week and visited the Poly a couple of times while there. We even watched the fireworks from the beach next to the new villas one night! I would LOVE to stay there someday! Look forward to reading your report!

 

[rteetz]

I am here Pete!

We are right with you when it comes to normally going value and moderate. This January will be my first deluxe trip. Looks like a great time so far. I have only been to typhoon lagoon once and that was in like 2003.

 

[NJlauren]

Here and really looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

We ate at Big River Grill once, it was Football season and DH wanted to see some of the game and ESPN was a zoo so they had a TV at the bar and we stopped in, I don't remember it being particularly good or bad but the location and TV were right for us!

Happy to here overall the trip was off to a good start!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Following along! Looking forward to your review of the DVC rooms at the Poly! I rented points and I'm staying there in February/March of 2016 for a week! Very excited.
Great start to your vacay! I know the rain you speak of. Once in 2011 it rained for about half our trip. Luckily the past few trips have not been bad rain-wise. Very hot though!

 

[Teetah]

Joining! Looks like a great start!

I agree about the rain. I swear, I have never experience only 20 minutes of it. It always chomps out at least an hour. LIES!

We never have made to a water park there - need to put that on the to-do list!

 

[skier_pete]

I'm on board! Looking forward to your report.

Subbing in!

Thanks for joining in! Hopefully I can keep a steady pace of updating at least once a week.

Cant wait to hear all the details, Peter! Looks like you are off to a great start!

That first day I seemed to have a mental block against taking photos. I forgot to take pictures of our food (major Disney sin) and also didn't take a lot at the water park even though I was carrying the camera around. However, it was a pretty good first day; not too hectic but definitely very Disney!

We were in WDW last week and visited the Poly a couple of times while there. We even watched the fireworks from the beach next to the new villas one night! I would LOVE to stay there someday! Look forward to reading your report!

Ooooh....I know my title is a real tease - we're still 6 days away from us landing at the Poly. Watching the fireworks from the beach was the BEST.

I am here Pete!

We are right with you when it comes to normally going value and moderate. This January will be my first deluxe trip. Looks like a great time so far. I have only been to typhoon lagoon once and that was in like 2003.

Thanks for joining in. You and your sisters will have a great time at the Beach Club. I hope the weather is warm enough that you can enjoy the pool!

2003 since you did TL - what were you about five? Time to get back there, eh?

Here and really looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

We ate at Big River Grill once, it was Football season and DH wanted to see some of the game and ESPN was a zoo so they had a TV at the bar and we stopped in, I don't remember it being particularly good or bad but the location and TV were right for us!

Happy to here overall the trip was off to a good start!

Yeah, about my feeling on Big River Grill - generic grill/bar restaurant. Nothing special, but it was good enough. We got in with a Table for 8 on a Friday night with only about a 20 minute wait, which is pretty rare at Disney, so at least that part is good!

Following along! Looking forward to your review of the DVC rooms at the Poly! I rented points and I'm staying there in February/March of 2016 for a week! Very excited.
Great start to your vacay! I know the rain you speak of. Once in 2011 it rained for about half our trip. Luckily the past few trips have not been bad rain-wise. Very hot though!

Well, hopefully I'll get to those rooms well before you leave on your trip. You definitely won't be disappointed in them, though!

Joining! Looks like a great start!

I agree about the rain. I swear, I have never experience only 20 minutes of it. It always chomps out at least an hour. LIES!

We never have made to a water park there - need to put that on the to-do list!

We were lucky in that we never really got caught in too bad a downpour, but there was a lot more rain than I would like. Honestly, the heat was almost as bad. I can't wait until DD is done with school and we have the rest of the year opened back up to us. Until then I see a few more of these late August trips!

I tell everyone they should definitely check out the water parks. BB has better slides in general, but I think Typhoon Lagoon has more uniqueness to it. (Between the crazy wave pool, the Shark Reef, and Crush n Gusher.) I was expecting this trip to be a lot more about the water parks, but in the end we didn't go as much as we had planned. Really, I would say one water park day per trip is enough for me, though!

 

[Dentam]

Ooooh....I know my title is a real tease - we're still 6 days away from us landing at the Poly. Watching the fireworks from the beach was the BEST.

No worries, I saw that you're at the BC first - we actually stopped in there a bit too on our way from EPCOT to HS one night. I'd love to stay there one day - the pool looks amazing!

 

[DisneyJo]

Great start!

We're at WDW about that time next year so I'm eager to hear all about your trip

 

[PrincessInOz]

Late to this TR, but I'm here too.

Too bad about the sofa bed. Did DD try it? DS thinks the sofa bed at BCV are the best he's slept on.
Pictures of Typhoon Lagoon are fantastic!

 

[Rosebud123]

Reading along! We were at Poly/YC the same time.

 

[Tinker326]

Here! Can't wait for the report!

 

[skier_pete]

No worries, I saw that you're at the BC first - we actually stopped in there a bit too on our way from EPCOT to HS one night. I'd love to stay there one day - the pool looks amazing!

No doubt the pool is impressive. It is massive, and we didn't even use the kiddie pool section. The Whirlpool and the sandy bottom are awesome, the slide is great. The "lazy river" is kind of lame. (Too lazy.) But really I can't say I ever seen a better pool complex anywhere.

Great start!

We're at WDW about that time next year so I'm eager to hear all about your trip

Expect rain, and then heat, and then rain. Low crowds though!

Late to this TR, but I'm here too.

Too bad about the sofa bed. Did DD try it? DS thinks the sofa bed at BCV are the best he's slept on.
Pictures of Typhoon Lagoon are fantastic!

The Sofa Bed was fine once she slept on it. She said it was a great bed. We actually just left it folded out. At the Poly she used the trundle, so we didn't even need to pull out the Sofa Bed. She spent at least a few hours a day chillin' in bed with her electronics and listening to Stacy do the must-dos!

Reading along! We were at Poly/YC the same time.

Oh, too bad we didn't know. There were a few of us DISers around the BC/YC and the Poly!

Here! Can't wait for the report!

Thanks for coming along. Scottie says "hugs and kisses"! (I kid...)

 

[franandaj]

I'm here! A little late! Looking forward to hearing all about the rest of the trip!

 

[skier_pete]

I'm here! A little late! Looking forward to hearing all about the rest of the trip!

More coming right up!!

Day 2: A Beachy morning

Day two entered the picture as it frequently does on a Disney vacation – way too early. Actually we all had some trouble sleeping that first night – and the plans were for an early morning. Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While I don’t consider myself a commando touring planner anymore, I do usually have a pretty good idea what order of rides I want to hit, at least for the first few hours of the day. In particular, we were really limiting the amount of time we spent in DHS because of the lack of things to do in this park, so we want to get done as much as we could in the time we allowed.

So, we were up at 6:30 AM with the goal of being down at the dock for the first boat of the day – which would be roughly 7:20 AM.



As soon as I stepped outside, my poor camera lens fogged up from the excessive humidity. I often ended up taking pictures with my phone because my camera wasn’t taking the humidity!


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It was actually a pretty morning, with the sun just rolling up over the beach club.





Even though I took this on my phone, it is one of my favorite shots of the trip:



The water was so calm and still without the boats plying around the lake:



The boats came out from dock at Epcot, with one going to Boardwalk and one going to our dock. There was enough people for a mostly full boat. We didn’t stop at the Swalphin, so we were at DHS in about 10 minutes. WE piled out with the rest of the crowd.
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The crowd at the EMH did not look any different from a normal rope drop crowd, except it was an hour earlier. Generally, we don’t do extra magic hours. While there can be value to it if you take full advantage, most of the time we don’t want to be up that early or out that late, and so we typically avoid these parks. In this case, I decided to risk the EMH. I’ll let you know if it was worth it.

We did the same thing we do at a normal rope drop - headed right to Toy Story Mania!
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Wait, isn’t that a completely different ride???
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Toy Story Selfie:



It probably took about 10 minutes for us to get through the queue and onto the ride. I have gotten good enough at this right to surpass the beaver and achieve the raccoon!! Yippee! Usually score around 160,000. Not as good as Buzz, where I’ve found all the secret targets, but pretty good! Beat DW and DD anyways!

We got off the ride and had debated about riding twice if the line wasn’t too long. It was already 40 minutes stand-by, so we decided to head over to Star Tours. I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and I admit the old ride was getting boring, but I love the 2.0 version. We got Hoth (AGAIN) and Naboo. On the way out, DD was wanting to buy another lightsaber (she has two that she never plays with). We convinced her to wait until more than 1 hour into our vacation to spend her money on a lightsaber.
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By this time it was 8:50 AM, and I had planned for us to go on the Great Movie Ride. DD has actually never been on this ride to this point, so of course she was under strict protest that she did NOT want to ride it. (She is like this sometimes – protests riding it for no reason.) I told her there was nothing scary on it. (I ignored mentioning the Alien section – which actually isn’t scary either.) She begrudgingly rode it, because she had no choice.
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This was my first time riding it in a while - Probably since 2011 with my mom – and certainly the first time I’ve seen the new TCM portions. I liked what they did with the queue area and the final movie with Robert Osborne, but I don’t really care for the way they inserted him in the ride. It doesn’t flow well at all with the driver/gangster, not good “show” in my opinion.

In the end, DD liked the ride quite a bit. (We’ll see a return of the Great Movie Ride in a few days.) I didn’t get any pictures on the ride, for some reason that I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I am so colossally indifferent toward this ride.

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