We're Outnumbered! 6 kids, 5 adults, and 1 hurricane - Sept/Oct 2022 (complete 6/15)

[Disney102015]

Hurricane Ian, Day 1​

We were up early as usual but really had no reason to be. The storm was due to start later in the day Wednesday.

By now we knew that the parks would be closed Wednesday and Thursday, and we wouldn’t be able to transfer to AKL as planned on Thursday. I got up Wednesday feeling very apprehensive especially since our Instacart order had never arrived and we still didn’t have confirmation that we’d have a room at the Poly on Thursday night. So, my first stop Wednesday morning was the Great Ceremonial House to join the massive line at the front desk.

Things seemed much more organized at the front desk today and the person I spoke to immediately put us on a list for a call back about coordinating our extra night, but reassured me we’d be all set. I also asked about when the GCH would be closing for the storm, what food options were available, etc. and no info was available yet. This was disconcerting as it was the day the storm was supposed to start.

Thank goodness for the Disboards, where I followed along for a lot of information. I have to say though, I saw a lot of people posting about how great their resorts were handling things and how good communication had been and that could not have been further from our experience at the Polynesian. We really felt like the Poly dropped the ball in handling the whole storm.

My next stop with the kids was Captain Cook’s. The line was huge but they were still doing breakfast as usual so we decided to fill up. While in line, people were exchanging info and asking each other questions. One woman was under the assumption that food would be delivered to each long house during the storm since we wouldn’t be able to get to the GCH - luckily all the people around her let her know she’d need to fend for herself and stock up. Again, official communication was just really lacking. I had seen on the Disboards that other resorts were advertising meal boxes for sale so I asked three different employees at Captain Cook’s if that was going to be available at the Poly - everyone I talked to said they didn’t know yet. That was pretty frustrating as of 9:30 on the day of the storm. I think the moral of the story is that no matter how much people rave about how Disney is during a storm, you really do need to take self responsibility and be ready with your own supplies because you just never know. (Also, in the future in traveling in hurricane season I’d personally lean toward an enclosed resort like AKL or Riviera or something - knowing we’d be stuck in Pago Pago with no food/entertainment options during the storm was not ideal in retrospect.)

Anyway, I got our breakfast and met Sister and her crew in the lobby to eat since there were no seats available. Just after 9:30 we got an awesome surprise as Mickey and Pluto came into the lobby! Mickey was in his classic outfit but C was convinced it was the same mouse he had met at Topolino’s the day before, which was adorable. “He went RIGHT in for the high five!” he said. He’s now convinced a high five is like him and Mickey’s secret handshake.
We hung out in the GCH til about 10:30 when we headed back to the room. CMs had come door to door and pulled in the chairs from the balconies and put them in the hallways.



We just killed time for a bit and eventually headed back to the GCH. It was a bit rainy and windy but the storm definitely hadn’t started in earnest yet.



There were some games and activities in the GCH for the kids so that was nice. There was finally a sign put up about buying meal kits but of the 8 options listed, only 2 were available.


I waited in line almost an hour and stocked up on what we could get, then went to the gift shop to see what other snacks I could find. The shelves were pretty cleared out so it was good we had done an Instacart order on our arrival day, so we had enough to get by. (The second Instacart order we placed for storm food, almost 2 days before the storm, never came.)

Around this time they announced the pool would be open for a bit so we decided to give it a go. All the chairs and stuff were tied down but the pool itself was open and PACKED. Full of parents with total desperation in their eyes staring down the prospect of 2 days indoors with rowdy kids, haha. We swam for about 5 minutes but the wind was really picking up and quickly surpassed my comfort level for being outside.

We grabbed a round of drinks to take back to the room (Tambu lounge was open!) and headed back to Pago Pago. The kids watched tv and played with souvenirs they had gotten during the trip so far. At some point I got a call from the front desk confirming we were all set to stay an extra night and could use vacation points to do so. That was a relief. (We had a 1 bedroom savanna view at AKL so I was actually able to call after the trip and get the points difference credited to our account.)

Around 6:00, the guys decided it was still safe enough to walk over to GCH to grab dinner from Captain Cook’s rather than dipping into our hurricane rations, so we had a hot meal. This was just in time as we got the following alert at 7:20:



The kids were pretty wild by this point, having been cooped up most of the afternoon, so we parted ways with Sister’s crew around 8pm and they headed back to their room. At 9:06 we got another alert:



We were now hunkered down for the duration of the storm. Honestly it was not too scary until about 2am, when the winds really started waking me up. It didn’t seem to last that long, though. (This is not to mitigate the experience of anyone who had damage or flooding and whatnot - this was just what we experienced from our room.) I think we all slept fitfully that night.

Next up - Hurricane Ian, day two.

 

[Disney102015]

Hurricane Day 2​

We slept in a little the next day and woke up to wind and rain, but it didn’t look too bad from where we were. We hung out with Sister and her crew starting around 10am and had breakfast from our meal kits. By noon, the rain had mostly stopped and the wind had died down. We could see workers outside clearing debris - there were lots of palm fronds down. We saw plenty of people outside and decided we felt comfortable heading over to the GCH.




There was finally some communication from the resort!



We visited the gift shop where the girls picked out some stuffies. Sister and I decided to get Lapu Lapus - the drinks made in the pineapple - because why not? We also got some cupcakes and brought them to the GCH to eat.



Around 4:00 we headed back to the room - everyone was getting a bit of cabin fever at this point, I think, even though we could move about the Poly. Also, mom had been staying in D’s room but moved in with us for the last night at the Poly (we were supposed to be in an AKL 1 bedroom by the time she moved in with us so we were a bit cramped).
(I think I forgot to mention that D was able to get a flight home early Wednesday morning - I believe the airport was closing at 10am and she ultimately took off around 9:30am so she just barely made it out in time!)

In the early evening we got the news that parks would be open on a phased schedule the following day - WOOHOO!!!



We had had no idea what to expect since we heard other parts of Orlando had been hit much worse than we were so we were psyched and grateful to know we’d be getting to the parks the following day. We decided to head back to Epcot, since there were a few things we hadn’t done the previous day there and we still had days planned for MK and HS. We packed up all our stuff for our resort move and got to bed, ready to get the vacation back on track!

 

[Disney102015]

Epcot Day 2 ​

The sun was shining and we were back on track! At 7am I got boarding group 43 for Guardians. We opted not to get Genie+ on this day since we just had a few specific things we wanted to do.



We were moving to AKL on this day and while we were having bell services move most of our stuff, we needed to move the Snoo and our food items ourselves. The guys loaded up that stuff and took an Uber over to AKL, dropped the stuff, then turned right back around. In the meantime we called bell services for our luggage which only took about ten minutes. We all reconvened and left Pago Pago at 9:45, and were on the monorail by 10:00, pulling into Epcot at 10:11.



We immediately scheduled a DAS for Frozen with a return time after 11:10, and headed off to our main destination for the day, meeting Anna and Elsa. This line did not offer DAS and I will tell you it was a STRUGGLE for the DAS holders in our group. We asked a CM why there is no DAS and she said it’s because it’s classified as a meet and great rather than an attraction. Doesn’t make a ton of sense since the other princess meet and greets have DAS but it is what it is. This was a must do for G, who is Frozen-obsessed. We got in line at 10:50 and a 50 minute wait was posted. We were done by about 11:35 so the wait was just shy of accurate.
And it was worth every minute to see G’s face light up when she saw the “real” Anna! Anna is her favorite but she also loved meeting Elsa. Both princesses took lots of time with the girls and signed all their autograph books. It was really sweet. Elsa started talking about Olaf and G picked up her shoes to show her Olaf was on the shoe. Overall, totally worth the wait.

Next we had our DAS for Frozen and basically walked right on. A 55 minute wait was posted. G sang through the whole ride and of course I cried. She was absolutely mesmerized and kept asking if every ride after that would be “an Anna ride.”
Next we were feeling a bit snacky so started meandering around the Food & Wine booths. We’d find a spot to park the strollers and eat, then take turns hitting the booths in the vicinity. It worked out pretty well. We tried some food from India, Italy, France, Morocco, Belgium…it was great. It was a very relaxed pace and a huge change from our hectic first day at Epcot! Such a nice afternoon.



In the meantime we had picked up our next DAS for Remy’s around 12:30 with a return time after 1:32. We got there at 2:15 and the standby wait said 30 minutes. We waited maybe 15. The kids were all very nervous for this one for some reason - maybe because it’s kind of low lighting in there? But they were all troopers and got on the ride. It was all our first times riding it and it was really cute! Next we hit Club Cool - my poor mom was on the hunt for a Frozen Coke but we kept getting thwarted. The machine in Future World wasn’t working and we were told there was one in Canada but it wasn’t there. Oh well.



Next up was Guardians!! Can you tell I am just a little obsessed with this ride. I was especially excited to ride without worrying about the kids this time - last time I had been pretty distracted by how traumatized they seemed. This time it was just me, Sister and BIL. It was amazing as the first time - the first time we had “One way or another” and the second time we had “Conga.” I think “One way or another” was my favorite. It took us about 25 minutes to get through Guardians and then we were done at Epcot for the day!



We got to Jambo house around 4:40 but our bags weren’t there yet and our room wasn’t ready. Check in took a LONG time - apparently since we had missed the first night of our reservation (since we weren’t allowed to move and check in the day prior due to the storm) there was some confusion about whether or not we were coming. The CM disappeared out back for a while and I was getting pretty nervous but eventually she came back and told us we definitely had rooms but they weren’t ready yet.



Next we headed to the Mara to feed mom and the kids. Me, Husband, Sister and BIL had a dinner reservation at Boma so didn’t want to fill up. I never did get a room ready text but kept refreshing the app and eventually a room number popped up right around 6:00. We got room 5513 on the Zebra trail. It had a beautiful savanna view and we were psyched to have the extra space of a 1 bedroom.



We had the sitter scheduled again for this night and she got there just as we were settling into our rooms, so we headed down to Boma! Baby E tagged along with us again and was a little fussy at dinner but I can’t complain because she was otherwise a dream for 99% of the trip. Dinner was great and we had a lot of laughs. We went to the Victoria Falls lounge afterwards and I got the Spice Route wine flight. It was delicious! I ended up ordering one of the bottles of wine after I got home. We each had a drink and then we decided to call it a night early because we had an early morning ahead.



Next up - we finally make it to Hollywood Studios!

 

[Disney102015]

Hollywood Studios
​

Sorry for the delay in updating, all! I snuck in a quick and very last minute return trip in February (TR coming soon!) and have fell off the posting wagon ever since as we prep for our first ever trip to Disneyland in a few short weeks. I am determined to finish this TR before that, so buckle up!

I had been anticipating this day ever since Galaxy’s Edge opened. Sister and BIL are HUGE Star Wars fans and I could not WAIT to see their reactions! I had even held off riding Rise of the Resistance so Sister and I could ride it for the first time together. I had also somehow avoided most ride spoilers, so I was super excited to finally check it out!

We were up before 7 as usual and got Genie+ for Slinky Dog with a return time of 9:15-10:15. We also purchased an ILL for Rise with a 9:15 to 10:15 return time. It was lovely waking up at AKL for the first time this trip! We ordered the Mara breakfast at 7:06 and had an immediate return time - Sister was headed down to grab her family’s food so just grabbed ours while she was there, so I could just sit on the balcony giving E her bottle and enjoying my coffee.

We had a bit of a leisurely morning since we knew we’d be at Hollywood Studios all day. We left at 9:10 and the bus said it’d be coming in 2 minutes - then promptly jumped to 9:40. Yikes! Oh well, like I said, we weren’t in a huge rush today. We were at security by 9:53 and at 10:00 picked up Genie+ for Toy Story Mania, with an almost immediate return time. We also got a DAS for Alien Swirling Saucers with a return time after 10:32.

Our first stop was Toy Story Mania, which had a 65 minute wait posted. This ride is just so fun! I wore E in the Ergo for this one because it kind of whips you around a bit. We were off by 10:27 and made our next LL for Millennium Falcon with a return time 11:30-12:30. Next up was Aliens - Husband waited with E while the rest of us rode. (Note for DAS users, this would be an issue later because he didn’t scan his band and we weren’t able to include him on future DAS reservations later in the day, til he ran back to Aliens and scanned his band. If someone in your DAS party decides not to ride, make sure they still scan!)

Next up….Galaxy’s Edge!! We wandered around a bit first so Sister and BIL could take it all in, and we stopped for some Photopass pictures. We knew we’d be hungry soon so we placed a Docking bay 7 order at 11 for 12:05-12:35 arrival. In the meantime our first group headed to Millennium Falcon around 11:20, and was off by 11:43. While I waited with mom, Husband, S, C, E, and H, REY came over to see us!!! She zeroed in on S, who is 4.5 and the girliest girl you can possibly imagine. They talked in whispers for a few minutes, with S emphatically explaining something to Rey, then S skipped away. “Too busy to help the resistance today, I see!” Rey said, before walking away. It was pretty hilarious.
Then our next group rode the Falcon and was off by 12:05. The posted wait was 80 minutes to Genie+ saved us a lot of time, but if there was one thing I didn’t expect on this trip (well, other than a hurricane, haha) it was how long it’d take to get 2 groups through rides when using rider swap. I’d plan better for that next time and just expect that any given ride will take 45+ minutes to get 2 groups through even with Genie/ILL.

Most of us headed to Docking Bay 7 while J went to build her droid. The food was just ok - nothing to write home about. The rest of the kids were getting pretty antsy and it was crowded so this was a bit stressful. At some point our Runaway Railway pass turned into an anytime pass but I can’t remember if this was a Genie+ or a DAS. Since the kids were not handling the wait very well, we decided to take our crew to meet Olaf - at 1:06 we grabbed an LL with an immediate return time. We basically walked right in and G was excited to wear her Olaf ears but was NOT having any Olaf hugs, haha. She was content to let Daddy hold her while Olaf stood nearby but that was as close as she’d get. She also kept asking where Anna was!
By the time we were out, J was done with her droid, which came out awesome. Our first group headed into Rise with our ILL (our time had been for the morning but we had heard the paid ILLs can be used pretty much anytime and none of the CMs said anything). Husband, mom, and C went first and came back about 25 minutes later - C found it a little scary but not too bad. Then it was me, Sister, and BIL’s turn - I was so, so excited and it exceeded all my expectations. It was like 3 rides in one. Just so amazing, and so special to get to see it for the very first time with Sister and BIL since they are huge Star Wars fans! We were off around 3:22 so it took our whole crew about an hour to get both groups through.

Next it was time for Slinky. We hopped in line at 3:22 and a 70 minute wait was posted and the LL line looked HUGE. It was almost half an hour wait but it was worth it - me, BIL, S and C rode it. C LOVES this ride and S loved it too. While in line I kept pushing back our dinner reservation because I knew we’d be cutting it close. Luckily I was having no trouble modifying in the app. After the ride, C picked out a toy Woody doll with the pull string that makes him talk. He melted my heart by asking if I’d be his deputy <3

Next we had Runaway Railway and we had to split into groups because we had 3 sleeping kids - G, E, and H! Husband and I waited with the sleeping kids and C while everyone else rode, then it was our turn. Halfway thru the ride C leaned over to me and whispered, “when do the dragons come out?” He had seen the dragons on the outside of the theater and thought it’d be a dragon ride, haha. Swapping took a lot longer than we expected and I tried to modify our dinner reservation one more time but wasn’t able to.

We got to our Mama Melrose reservation about 10 minutes late but it was no problem. We were seated before 5:30 and were finishing up around 6:40. We had a great server, the kids were awesome, and Husband and I split the sangria pitcher. All in all an awesome meal! I always enjoy that restaurant - nothing fancy but always a good meal.

We met back up with Sister and her crew after dinner. By some Facebook luck, she was able to meet up with someone she hadn’t seen since college and they were able to spend some more time exploring Galaxy’s Edge with their kids so that worked out really well. Her and BIL had grabbed some mixed drinks from a cart which they were nice enough to share with us. The server was also from MA and made their drinks extra strong for some fellow MA residents - let me tell you, this was a strong pour!! It was a perfect way to end the day as we headed back to the buses. We waited about 20 minutes at the stop and we’re back to AKL by around 7:30.

And y’all….I’m not going to lie to you, I am drawing a blank on what happened next. I am pretty sure we did a little laundry and passed out early. I have no notes and no photos so let’s assume we grabbed a quick drink from Victoria Falls (which we did most nights) and called it a day!

 

[Disney102015]

Last Park Day​

It was our last park day but it was hard to be too sad when we had an amazing, epic, long trip! And we had a VERY exciting, Princess-centric day planned.

Let me tell you…planning this day was ROUGH. S is a princess girl through and through and her one must do for this trip was Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We knew it was reopening a few weeks before our trip and we had every alert set that we could find to let us know when reservations opened. Wouldn’t you know it, they dropped the ONE time neither Sister nor I were at our phones! By the time I saw the Facebook post that reservations were opened, I was only able to book the last day of our trip, which was not ideal but MUCH better than missing out entirely.

Since it was a princess day, everyone was getting dolled up that morning - we had a Belle dress for G, a tiny Cinderella onesie for E, a Snow White dress for H, an Aurora dress for S and an AMAZING mermaid themed outfit for J, who was too cool to dress as a princess but all in on the mermaid dress and makeup. We were up early to get everyone in their ensembles and on the bus by 7:30, pulling into Magic Kingdom by 7:50.

What better way to wake up than with a ride on Space Mountain? Sister, BIL and I rode this while Husband and mom wrangled the kids and it definitely got us wide awake! Better than coffee! We were off by 8:20 and Sister and BIL hustled S off for her princess makeover. Little C was eyeing what I THOUGHT was the Astro Orbiter and asked if we could go ride it. Little did he know I’ve never ridden it and have been dying to try it, so I was so excited! We waited about 15-20 minutes to board an elevator and then were brought upstairs. C balked immediately. “Mumma, THIS isn’t what I wanted to ride!” He spun around and pointed to the People Mover. “THAT’s what I wanted to ride!” Uh oh. He watched one rotation of the ride and deemed it “way too scary.” Bummer. Back down the elevators we went. One of these days I WILL ride Astro Orbiter!

We knew we had some time to kill so we decided to brave Buzz. Mom was ok to walk from wheelchair parking to the ride so we were able to wrangle Baby E, Little G, Little H, and C (as J is 9 and didn’t need much wrangling). It was still a handful, though! We were off the ride by about 9:10 and made our way over to Fantasyland to wait for Princess S. Her princess makeover took longer than expected but that was ok because our next stop was Cinderella’s Royal Table….and the restaurant was evacuated due to a fire alarm!!

We found a shady spot to sit and wait until they started letting parties back in again. I think our reservation was 10am and we got in around 10:40 so not too bad, all things considered. Breakfast took about an hour. The kids got a kick out of being in the castle but honestly I don’t think this was worth it, at least not before the princesses came back. I did get the drink flight, which was lovely! Cinderella was meeting in the lobby but the kids weren’t really interested since they had just met her.

At 11:50, the posted wait for SDMT was 70 minutes but we had LL so it was a quick line. As always though, it took some time to get 2 groups through with rider swap. We didn’t get to Haunted Mansion until almost 50 minutes later. The posted wait was 45 minutes but we had DAS - some of the littles didn’t want to ride so we broke into 2 groups. Husband and I rode first, and it was SO crowded leaving the stretching room. I remember saying “if I am going to catch Covid on this trip, this is the place I’m going to get it!” Wouldn’t you know I tested positive 3 days later.

The ride broke down while we were on it which was cool for the first few minutes to get a better look at some of the effects but then became a bit boring. We finally got moving again and were off around 1:15, and the second group took their turn. They got thru much quicker than we did, and we were hitting Thunder Mountain by 1:38. I forget if this was DAS or a Genie but we were off by 1:56 so things moved pretty quickly. I love that ride!

Next we dropped Sister, Husband, Mom and J, G, E, and H off at the playground by Splash Mountain while BIL and I took S and C to ride. We remarked again how funny it is that they get so spooked about indoor rides they can’t see first, but are all about the outdoor thrill rides! A 45 minute wait was posted and we had either DAS or Genie; however, the ride kept breaking down so we still weren’t off til almost 40 minutes later. By then everyone was very hot and very done with the playground so we made our way back to Main Street.

We were all very ready for some pool time but one of Sister and I’s “must dos” for the trip was to get silhouettes of the kids. Pro tip, don’t leave your last afternoon! The artist had just left on a 30 minute break. We decided to kill a little time in the shops and a cast member soon flagged us down a few stores away - the artist came back early and the CM went to find us! How nice was that! Definitely got a Cast Compliment. The parade went by while we were getting the silhouettes done which was a nice way to end our last park day.

We were at the bus stop at 4:00 and on a bus about 15 minutes later, arriving back to AKL at 4:37. The kids were absolute maniacs - everyone was beyond tired and sweaty, but we were determined to have some pool time!! We got in our swim and debated what to do for dinner. Mom decided to stay in the room and get pizza from the Mara but the adults had a small lapse in judgment and decided a trek to Sanaa was in order. Did you know you can get the bread service to go??!!

We got everyone changed and headed over to Kidani which is not a bad walk if you’re not toting 6 delirious children. We placed a mobile order and hung out watching the animals til it got too dark to see. The food took foreverrrrr to come out and the kids were losing it by the time we finally ate but it was still a nice way to wrap up our last night.

Back at our respective rooms, we ate and packed up to head home. The following morning, I made a quick run to Disney Springs with C - I had promised a visit to the T-Rex store and he made sure to remind me! We took a Minnie Van there in the interest of time and I don’t even want to tell you how much that cost! But he was thrilled to pick out his Dino toy so it was all worth it. We caught the bus back and had our own private ride back to AKL!

When we got back, we had time for a quick swim before it was time to get changed and head to the Sunshine Flyer. The trip home was relatively uneventful - the kids were exhausted from the trip and slept a bit. We did hit a good amount of turbulence which the pilot said was remnants from Hurricane Ian, so that was unpleasant. I was very glad to be back safely on the ground after a great trip!!

So that wraps up this trip report! It only took me about 9 months to write up the whole thing but it was worth it - I love having these memories of our trips written down. I am already daydreaming about our next trip with the extended family. In the meantime I’ve got 2 more trip reports to write up - a quick Sisters trip we snuck in, and a report from our first trip to LA/Disneyland - stay tuned and thanks for reading!

 

[Counting Stars]

I applaud you! Small ones, hurricanes and coordinating three generations, just wow! Its challenging to coordinate for one family Sounds like you still had a marvelous time and made the best of this unusual situation. It reminds me of vacations at DW that left me feeling like I needed a vacation by the time we got back home. I enjoyed reading, thanks for taking the time to share.