Is That a Raincloud Over My Head? EMTPEJ's Land & Sea Adventure **Updated 10/28** - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Old 08-07-2008, 09:26 PM   #121
ArielsMomto2
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Finally got caught up. Love the pics of the safari. They are awesome. Great timing with Kendra's ankle. Hope you didn't get rained out anymore today. Hurry back. Looking forward to more.
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Old 08-07-2008, 09:38 PM   #122
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I'm still catching up - this is one of the best TRs ever EJ!!!! I love how your family looks so happy in every photo (not the fake smiles either!). You guys just all look so happy and like you are having such a wonderful time. More please......
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Old 08-07-2008, 11:34 PM   #123
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C'mon EJ, I need an update!
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Old 08-08-2008, 12:39 PM   #124
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Episode 6: A Luau? Or Raincloud?

Episode 6: 07/15/08 Part B – A luau. Our will my personal raincloud reign supreme?

The plan at this point was to go to the early ‘Aloha show and then take a cab to Yacht and Beach Club for the Illuminations cruise, then enjoy the EMH attractions at Epcot. Remember the raincloud over my head? We hoped and prayed that the skies would clear in time for our much-anticipated and planned for Passporter princess meet with Danielle Harmon and her family! I made sure that Danielle knew where we were staying, and had my cell phone number, if they needed to call, but they hadn’t, so I hoped that all was well with them.

After we changed into our spiffy luau threads, we proceeded to the lobby (dodging raindrops and testing the Mythbusters hypothesis that if you run, you actually get slightly wetter, which my wise sons were quick to point out.

Tim and Dave =========== Kenny



We had to wait inside of the lobby at the Polynesian because it was – guess what? – still raining. After you check for the event, they give you a different color lei so they can help to keep track of who is there for the show and who is not. The color is pretty much the skin tone of most of our party. PINK! They got a photo of us in front of the tiki with the blue eyes for the event photo, as opposed to something more Luau-like. Like I said before, those shirts matched everyone’s eyes EXCEPT for my own (including the tiki – I thought they were supposed to have brown eyes, like the islanders – oh, well). Then, they lined us up past Capt. Cooks and the arcade and had us put on (new) garbage bags to protect our clothes, somehow… Then we marched like a line of plastic-clad ants through the beautiful (yet rainy) grounds of the Poly to Luau Cove. We wanted to go to this since we were staying at the Poly and were pretty into the whole south seas island thing. I think we were some of the very few guests to have on Hawaiian shirts. Of course, on the way, many of the leis disintegrated…




We finally were seated right near the kitchen entrance and were well attended by a nice server named Len. Kenny got a Pina Colada (suprise) and he was very pleased. I had the white zinfandel wine and everybody else had the diet coke. They serve you with these platters that are perched on these holders that are off the table, which can make it a little harder to serve yourself, but easier to share. They brought out a kids boxed meal as David did not like the Hawaiian style offerings of salad, pineapple-coconut bread, pineapple, pork ribs, chicken, rice, and vegetables. It was all OK, nothing really great, except the bread, and there was not much of that…



The show is pretty corny, but fun, and the dancing and singing was really good. They performed "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" and also the theme from “Hawaii Five-0” (book ‘em Dan O.)! The band seemed to be authentic and quite experienced. The fire dancer was great to see! He really hammed it up!




They performed some dances from the South Seas and they were very nice.

==============================================The fire dancer passes his baton under his back....

The dessert was un-impressive, but David liked it very much!



They put on a really big show when they bring it out, but it is kind of a let-down.
As I like to tip the extra % at places like this in cash, and pile it up as the evening goes on, we were visited VERY often by our server -- I was never dry in any sense of the word at any time (did I mention my raincloud was still functioning?). My guess is they set up the food for the late show during the early show and keep the staff pretty busy. It is amazing how fast they can serve everyone and have it all hot (or cold) for all the guests.

Since it was – guess what – STILL raining, they did not have anyone get up on stage to dance with them, so that was a little disappointing. People with birthdays that month stood up at their tables and they taught them a dance to perform together. Still, a good time was had by all! They brought the event photos around and so we bought them. One of the annoying things about their system is that every slip you get has a line for tip to be added, even the event photos.
The sound was not very good (I am writing them a letter about that) and I would not go out of my way to see it again, but it was a fun, once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. By the way, we paid OOP for it because we wanted category 1 seating and because of that, we were not short of TS credits, either. We bid mahalo and aloha to the Luau Cove and dodged raindrops on the way back to the GCH and then to our room.

Up next: Episode 7: 07/15/08 Part C: an Illuminations Cruise with a princess (or three). Or not -- It's still raining!
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Old 08-08-2008, 12:41 PM   #125
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tinker_me_happy View Post
See what happens when I work for a couple of days.... A LOT apparantly... and IT"S GREAT!!!
LOVE the Safari pix!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArielsMomto2 View Post
Finally got caught up. Love the pics of the safari. They are awesome. Great timing with Kendra's ankle. Hope you didn't get rained out anymore today. Hurry back. Looking forward to more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lukeandbrookesmom View Post
I'm still catching up - this is one of the best TRs ever EJ!!!! I love how your family looks so happy in every photo (not the fake smiles either!). You guys just all look so happy and like you are having such a wonderful time. More please......
thanks, Judi! We were having a great time! And thanks in large part to passporter, we were pretty well organized and I was not tapping my foot watching the clock!

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Originally Posted by JoanW View Post
C'mon EJ, I need an update!
As you wish!
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Old 08-08-2008, 12:49 PM   #126
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Sorry the luau was not so great! Hope the rain stopped soon! Hurry back with more!
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Old 08-08-2008, 01:25 PM   #127
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So sorry to hear the luau did not live up to your expectations. I can't believe it is still raining...
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Old 08-08-2008, 01:39 PM   #128
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Sorry to hear about the luau, it's always been a lot of fun when we've done it. Glad the fire dancer did ok, for our one show it was raining and the fire was floating on the water on the stage. He looked surprised when there was fire where he was going to put his foot down.
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Old 08-08-2008, 01:41 PM   #129
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Great update! I can't wait to see if it ever stops raining. Come back soon.
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Old 08-08-2008, 01:46 PM   #130
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Sorry about the rain at the luau. Great photos thought and everyone looked like they were having fun.
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Old 08-08-2008, 01:47 PM   #131
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Sorry about the rain at the luau. Great photos thought and everyone looked like they were having fun.
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Old 08-08-2008, 01:49 PM   #132
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I'm sorry that the Luau wasn't anything extra special - I hear such mixed reviews that I never know if this is something I want to try....glad you all had fun though.

Loved the family shirts by the way....you all were feeling that atmosphere

Hope the weather holds out for your cruise...
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Old 08-08-2008, 02:23 PM   #133
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Sorry to hear about all the rain EJ and that the luau wasn't that good. Hopefully the rain stopped in time for your Illuminations cruise.
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Old 08-08-2008, 02:23 PM   #134
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This is a great trip report..........waiting for more!
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Old 08-08-2008, 04:41 PM   #135
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Sorry about all the rain EJ More please
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