First Dose of WDW magic Trip Report COMPLETE!!...Day 6 (finished 5/23)
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luvnwdwgal · 05-01-2005, 07:18 PM

Looking forward to your trip report! I LOVE the Poly!!!

amanda31599 · 05-03-2005, 03:04 PM

Glad you had a good time.

Momerath124 · 05-03-2005, 03:57 PM

4/21/05-4/26/05 (4-days park hopper)
Reason for the trip: To celebrate DH’s end of deployment and go to WDW for the first time!

Resort: Polynesian Rarotonga longhouse
Travelers: Chris (33), Susan (34), Kirstin (14), Amanda (9), Brianna (4)
Transportation: plane, chauffeured, Disney park transportation.
Total cost: $5,750

Day 1
What a morning! We all woke up at 3:30am

on Thursday 4/21, after all we have to be at the Austin airport by 5:30a for our 7am flight. We leave our house which is 100 miles from the airport at 4:20am and we didn’t have to turn-around once! We opted to park the Suburban in the covered close in parking even though it is $15 a day. We each have a rolling suitcase and an extra duffle packed for souvenirs…then there are the 3 carry-ons (how long are we staying?). After a change in planes we are on our way to Orlando. We are like mice in the ‘big city’ and find our way down the escalator to baggage claim and find our driver. We used Shirley’s Luxury Towncar service and we are SO glad! Our driver Chuck is very friendly.

He helped us with our bags and pulls around the YukonXL. Chuck turns on the DVD of Disney for the kids and we chat with Chuck along the way to the resort. As we pulled out of the airport I showed Chris the shuttles and we were SO glad we didn’t have to pile into that! We were surprised by the number of toll roads there were and appreciated the fact that we didn’t have to drive! As we were gawking out the windows at DTD, then Epcot…we heard Chuck say here’s our turn! As we came to the Polynesian (noon), WOW, we were instantly transported to a tropical island paradise!! Now remember…our one & only ever family vacation was camping at Elephant Butte, NM in October 2000. We got out and the bell person (?) took our luggage and we just stood there……………………..
I asked the bell person, “This is our first time here…where do we go next?”

He said, “Go through the doors to registration.”
Uh, okay but I’m thinking what about our luggage?! (Bear with me here, remember it’s our first time!!) I go back to him….”What about our luggage?”
“Go to the desk right there and they’ll give you a luggage check tag” he said (kind of perturbed).
Okay, so I go to the bell desk thing and get a ticket for our luggage. We all parade into the Great Ceremonial House to see if we can check in since it’s only noon. We stand in line and I see a woman showing kids how to do a dance while swinging pompoms on a string. I remembered reading on tikiman2001’s website that she has been there for ages and I told the girls to go over and join &#61514; Reluctantly they go over and join and then go to the kids lounge while Chris & I do the check-in business.
Yippie, our room IS ready!

The only request we had made was that we have a non-smoking room. Since it was our first time we didn’t know which longhouse to request. The cast member said that we were on the 2nd floor but that there was no balcony and Chris kind of wanted the bottom floor and she was more than willing to change it but then we thought Brianna might be inclined to run out of the patio and explore on her own so we just took what they gave us. I had brought the remaining money for the hotel in traveler’s checks so when I was signing ALL of them ($1420 dollars worth) the cast member was explaining some of the information to Chris. Well we got our room keys and I gave our luggage ticket to the bell captain and we were off to our room in the Rarotonga longhouse. We were on the 2nd floor and I really think we could have asked for a 3rd floor that has an actual balcony with chairs but it was okay. WOW, the room was a lot larger than I expected!

We had a garden view plus a view of the Quiet pool. The room was plenty for our family of 5, not cramped at all. We had about 4 hours until the Spirit of Aloha show so Kirstin & I went to get the tickets printed out from guest services and also to look for the re-fillable mugs. Whoa, that was about $60 for 5 mugs but it did pay off. Everyone likes a different type of drink so they wouldn’t have shared anyway!
While we waited for 5pm we went for a swim in the quiet pool (heated)! After about an hour in the pool we came back to the room, cleaned up and headed down to Luau Cove.

5:00pm –The Spirit of Aloha (SOA) was excellent! Well worth the $200. We all enjoyed the show/skit about Kalani and the dancers…especially the fire spinning guy! A lot of hip-shaking! Would you believe Brianna ate a whole pineapple! The 1st course was a great salad w/dressing, pineapple and pineapple-type bread that was delicious! Then when the main course came Brianna had that sleepy eye look. Our cast member, Sondra, was THE BEST! She brought Brianna an extra bowl of pineapple and she kept our table overflowing with drinks and food! (I know that is her job but she was perfect) Well just about the time when the dancers came out, Brianna fell asleep on my lap. She slept all the way through dessert. The rest of us watched the show, cheering and clapping for the dancers from the islands of Tahiti, New Zealand, Hawaii, and others I can’t remember. Kirstin went up on the stage when they asked for all of the April birthdays. The did a cute dance and Kirstin had fun even though she was embarrassed.
I think Amanda’s favorite part was when the cast members brought out the volcano desserts!

A chocolate mousse mini-volcano with raspberry lava…Mmm. Since Brianna was asleep there was one extra and Amanda got it. Good eatin’ everyone was fully and we nearly had to be rolled out of there! Ha ha.
After the SOA we walked around the marina and looked around. We went back to the room to relax a bit and then headed to the beach to watch the fireworks (Wishes).

It was spectacular and a super way to end our first night at Disneyworld!
What a full day! Chris and I talked over our plan of attack the next day (Friday) at Magic Kingdom. Good night!

Jillybean · 05-03-2005, 04:52 PM

What a wonderful first day! I would love to do the Spirit of Aloha dinner one day!

Jill

DawnDenise · 05-03-2005, 05:02 PM

Great report so far....Can't wait to read more. I wish I could remember more about the Polynesian when I stayed there as a kid.

MontiMouse · 05-03-2005, 05:04 PM

Sounds like your trip is off to a great start! Hurry back with more.

GATechGal · 05-03-2005, 05:53 PM

What a teriffic start! I've heard mixed reviews about Spirit of Aloha. And your daughter falling asleep brings back memeories of my DS doing the same thing on our DCL cruise.

**DopeyGirl** · 05-03-2005, 06:12 PM

Great start!!! I am really looking forward to hearing all about the rest of the trip!!!

**Colexis Mom** · 05-03-2005, 08:30 PM

What a great first day

More please

luvnwdwgal · 05-03-2005, 09:45 PM

DH and I loved sitting on the swing on the Poly beach at night and just looking at all the lights and the Castle changing colors every night on our '02 trip. I'm looking forward to spending a little time there again on our next trip this September!
Btw, I think WDW has the BEST pineapple!!

Momerath124 · 05-04-2005, 08:41 AM

Day 2

We are finally going to “the castle” to see some “customers”!!

For some reason Brianna was calling Characters, customers. Well I knew that Friday was a busy day for Magic Kingdom but we just had to make our 1st park be “the castle”! We got to the park by way of the monorail which we caught on the 2nd floor of the Grand Ceremonial House (GCH). We had some snacks in the room for breakfast and left about 9:20am or so. It was pretty crowded, more crowded than we expected.
We made our way in through the ticket turnstiles and almost left our park tickets lying there on the ticket spitter-outer! We picked up a park map and time schedule and listened to Pal Mickey tell us where we were. We saw the lines for Minnie & Mickey and we showed Brianna. She was a little excited but I think it was just all so much for her little eyes to absorb. Amanda & Kirstin were on Disney overload as we walked past the oasis of characters. We started walking down Main Street and Chris spotted the first shop and we all went in… Now each kid has $20 of Disney moola that they have been waiting desperately to spend so here we are in our first shop…watch out! Kirstin bought a Mickey sorcerer hat and Amanda bought a Goofy hat. Brianna bought a stuffed Nala and I got some fastpass holders for our resort I.D.’s and tickets. Whew, that is over and it wasn’t too bad…
On to Cinderella’s castle and the Cinderella-bration had just started. After the fireworks, we went to Adventureland. We passed on the Swiss Family Treehouse and instead got in line for the Magic Carpets. It was only about a 5-10 min wait and we were on our first ride! After that we stopped in at the Tiki Room and went to get a fastpass for the Jungle Cruise. (Hey this is starting to get fun!) We went to Pirates of the Caribbean and Amanda started to get scared as we were walking through the dungeons and that raised some tension with Chris. I tried to assure Amanda that it wasn’t scary and to remember that this is Disneyworld and things aren’t as scary as a real haunted house or wax museum. As we got on the ride and went past the first corner Amanda realized that it wasn’t as scary as she had psyched herself up for.
We still had about 20 min for the Jungle Cruise so we stopped and had a snack…MICKEY BARS!!! Chris & I were hooked! After that we went down to the Jungle Cruise and whizzed on through the FastPass line. We had our first dose of corny tour guide Darius…I thought Pal Mickey’s jokes were corny! Ha, ha it was lots of fun and we enjoyed it (were we the only ones laughing?!)

Next we are walking out of the Jungle Cruise and there is a little line to see Chip & Dale!!! The kids first character & first autograph!

How priceless, Brianna wasn’t shy anymore, she almost bowled Dale over with a big bear hug! Now we are all grinning with excitement as we stroll out of Adventureland on to Liberty Square when we see some silly shenanigans…Timon, King Louie, and Rafiki!!! Here we are in another line to see more ‘customers”! This was so fun to watch their antics, Chris was taking the picture and King Louie ran behind him and waved his arms behind Chris and then turned around and mooned him, ha, I wish I had a picture of that!
As we were going around the bend we saw Pocahontas!!! Hmm, just around the river bend (maybe just a coincidence).

Another autograph and photo with a character, Pocahontas asked the girls what village they were from and they were talking like old friends…now that is priceless!
In Liberty Square we got something to drink and since we forgot the mister that day in the room, we bought a Mickey Mister ($17)

. We have NO concept of the time…why should we, we’re on vacation! So we mosey on to Fantasyland having NO clue what to expect there….
Pandamonium!!! Geez, where did all of these people come from!!! We made it without a scratch to Cinderella’s Carousel and waited in line for about 20 minutes. While we were in line people said that it was a 90min wait for Ariel’s Grotto and 60min wait for Dumbo. We went on to tomorrowland to see about sitting down for some lunch or some other rides but it was crazy so we opted to take the monorail back for a rest!!!
2pm back at the hotel and grabbed a bite to eat at Captain Cook’s 5-meals for $30. Then we walked around to look at the gift shops in the hotel. After we had waited about 45min we got into our bathing suits and went to the pool.
5pm showered & changed we thought we’d head back to the Magic Kingdom to see if the crowds had dispersed…. As we were walking in a man asked us if we wanted 3 FastPasses for PeterPan – we said, “Thanks” and made a bee-line for Fantasyland. Amanda, Brianna, & I rode PeterPan and had a blast. It seemed that Amanda & Brianna really bonded on that ride because after that Brianna & Amanda didn’t fight for the rest of the stay!
Yeehaw, Dumbo…bam -5min.

(You can't really see Brianna with Dad)
Snow White…bam -5min. Mickey’s Philharmonic…bam –no wait. I think the funnest one was Mickey’s Philharmonic we ALL enjoyed it. Dinner was at Captain Hook’s again since the only PS for Kona Café was 9:40pm (we didn't feel like waiting around in Tambu Lounge for a seat). Amanda & Brianna knocked out about 9:30pm and Kirstin went to bed about 10pm. Chris & I stayed up and tried to plan our attack on EMH at Animal Kingdom. The things we wanted to make sure & see were the Safari & Dinosaur, the rest we could play by ear. Good-night!

BOOM! Hey what is that?! Are they playing the drums?! No, it’s midnight… Is it a mortar attack?! Look out the window & we see the fireworks -Grad Nights equals Wishes at midnight…oh great! Good-night!

**Colexis Mom** · 05-04-2005, 01:42 PM

Sounds like you had a great day even though it was crowded

More please

lauren-roxy · 05-04-2005, 02:29 PM

Sounds like you are having a good time despite the crwods! Glad to hear you enjoyed the Spirit of Aloha! Awesome pictures!! Can't wait to read more!!!!