WaltsMartini
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2012
Welcome to the trip report! We had maybe our best trip to Disney to date on May 7 - 12. I’ll try to post the background of our trip/getting there and then each day as a separate post with pics. Read on for our experiences and thoughts on Southwest, Tiffany Town Car, the Polynesian, grocery orders, Genie Plus, and more!
Background
This trip was me, my husband, my son (6), and my daughter (4). DH is NOT a Disney fan, nor is he a fan of crowds or things that are “inefficient” - but he still managed to have SOME fun. My son has been to Disney once before as a 4 year old; this was my daughter’s first trip - at 40.5 inches, she is JUST tall enough for most of the good stuff! I am (obviously) a huge Disney fan - planning this Disney trip has been my hobby for over a year!
We rented DVC points and stayed at a studio at the Polynesian for five nights. We flew from BWI (not our nearest airport, more about that later) to MCO via Southwest and did town car service to/from resort. We had four day base tickets and the plan was one park per day - MK, Epcot, HS, and AK. We did purchase Memory Maker in advance.
To prep for this trip, I frequented the boards, consulted some Touring Plans, and stalked the MDE app for the two weeks before our trip to do pretend “dry runs” through my proposed plans to see what lines were like at each time of day for different attractions, and to see what LLs were available at certain times.
This was our first stay at a Deluxe, and I started planning/saving in January 2021. I got lots of advice from the credit card thread on the Budget board, and was able to use $1,100 in cash from Chase Ultimate Rewards to help defray the cost of the DVC rental. That plus some Southwest points made this dream trip a reality!
So that’s the background - here’s how the trip down went!
The Trip Down
We left our house at 7 a.m. for our 10:35 flight out of BWI. BWI is 1.5 - 2 hours away from us depending on traffic, but Southwest does not fly into our nearest airport. Because we were flying with rewards points, I felt the drive was worth it. We had no traffic other than the normal bumper to bumper on I-695, and after a bathroom pit stop for the kiddos (and DH who drinks 3 cups of coffee every morning!) we were parked and on the daily parking garage shuttle to the terminal by 9 a.m.
We have TSA pre-check and (knock on wood) it has been a godsend so far. Neither me nor DH has ever waited more than 5 minutes to go through security, and this trip was no exception. This, however, was the smoothest part of all our travels!
I LOVE flying Southwest, and I love how family friendly they are. However, a 10:35 flight on a Saturday to Orlando? Almost half the plane was families, most with children under 6, so that family boarding group was loooooong. We were delayed about 45 minutes on departure because of lack of flight crew (staff shortages everywhere - more on that later re: the food situation at Disney), but the plane loaded quickly and then it was wheels up to Disney!
Another reason I love Southwest - they have great in-flight entertainment that is FREE! DD watched Encanto and DS watched Sing 2. They also have the neat map/time feature that shows where you are geographically and how much time is left in your flight.
And the final reason I love Southwest - I used their credit card to get FREE flights for the whole family! That’s right, free. It helped that we didn’t go anywhere for two years because of the pandemic; however, if you wait for a really good sign-up bonus, I think you could earn enough points more quickly than that.
We landed in MCO at 1:20 p.m., and thanks to no checked baggage we walked off the plane and to the arrivals area to meet our town car as instructed. This was NOT on the lower level where I was used to going for Magical Express or car rental; rather, it was the same area where you get dropped off for your flight.
We used Tiffany Town Car to get to the resort. Roundtrip to the Polynesian was $195 for a Suburban as transport, plus 20% gratuity that we were responsible for giving to the driver. They do allow you to request what car seats you need, and will do a 15 minute grocery stop if you request it.
The driver sent me a text to call him once we landed; as I was walking off the plane he called me to tell him where I was. I’m sure he was doing this to be helpful, but it was a little pushy - I just got off a flight with two small kids who needed to find a bathroom, and I planned to call him after we got our bearings.
The car seats we requested - two boosters - were indeed installed. However, with the layout of the Suburban, one was in the middle of the back. I sat there with my daughter and there was no seat belt for my seat - something I didn’t discover until our driver had taken off like a bat out of he!! to exit the airport. On the way back to the airport at the end of the trip, they gave us an infant car seat - way too small for my daughter - and a booster, and again I had no seat belt. With tips, we paid $240 for the car service - I would not pay this again and will be trying Mears next time.
But - all’s well that ends well, and I arrived seatbelt-less but intact at the Polynesian - and that’s where the WOWs began! Next up: the POLY!
Background
This trip was me, my husband, my son (6), and my daughter (4). DH is NOT a Disney fan, nor is he a fan of crowds or things that are “inefficient” - but he still managed to have SOME fun. My son has been to Disney once before as a 4 year old; this was my daughter’s first trip - at 40.5 inches, she is JUST tall enough for most of the good stuff! I am (obviously) a huge Disney fan - planning this Disney trip has been my hobby for over a year!
We rented DVC points and stayed at a studio at the Polynesian for five nights. We flew from BWI (not our nearest airport, more about that later) to MCO via Southwest and did town car service to/from resort. We had four day base tickets and the plan was one park per day - MK, Epcot, HS, and AK. We did purchase Memory Maker in advance.
To prep for this trip, I frequented the boards, consulted some Touring Plans, and stalked the MDE app for the two weeks before our trip to do pretend “dry runs” through my proposed plans to see what lines were like at each time of day for different attractions, and to see what LLs were available at certain times.
This was our first stay at a Deluxe, and I started planning/saving in January 2021. I got lots of advice from the credit card thread on the Budget board, and was able to use $1,100 in cash from Chase Ultimate Rewards to help defray the cost of the DVC rental. That plus some Southwest points made this dream trip a reality!
So that’s the background - here’s how the trip down went!
The Trip Down
We left our house at 7 a.m. for our 10:35 flight out of BWI. BWI is 1.5 - 2 hours away from us depending on traffic, but Southwest does not fly into our nearest airport. Because we were flying with rewards points, I felt the drive was worth it. We had no traffic other than the normal bumper to bumper on I-695, and after a bathroom pit stop for the kiddos (and DH who drinks 3 cups of coffee every morning!) we were parked and on the daily parking garage shuttle to the terminal by 9 a.m.
We have TSA pre-check and (knock on wood) it has been a godsend so far. Neither me nor DH has ever waited more than 5 minutes to go through security, and this trip was no exception. This, however, was the smoothest part of all our travels!
I LOVE flying Southwest, and I love how family friendly they are. However, a 10:35 flight on a Saturday to Orlando? Almost half the plane was families, most with children under 6, so that family boarding group was loooooong. We were delayed about 45 minutes on departure because of lack of flight crew (staff shortages everywhere - more on that later re: the food situation at Disney), but the plane loaded quickly and then it was wheels up to Disney!
Another reason I love Southwest - they have great in-flight entertainment that is FREE! DD watched Encanto and DS watched Sing 2. They also have the neat map/time feature that shows where you are geographically and how much time is left in your flight.
And the final reason I love Southwest - I used their credit card to get FREE flights for the whole family! That’s right, free. It helped that we didn’t go anywhere for two years because of the pandemic; however, if you wait for a really good sign-up bonus, I think you could earn enough points more quickly than that.
We landed in MCO at 1:20 p.m., and thanks to no checked baggage we walked off the plane and to the arrivals area to meet our town car as instructed. This was NOT on the lower level where I was used to going for Magical Express or car rental; rather, it was the same area where you get dropped off for your flight.
We used Tiffany Town Car to get to the resort. Roundtrip to the Polynesian was $195 for a Suburban as transport, plus 20% gratuity that we were responsible for giving to the driver. They do allow you to request what car seats you need, and will do a 15 minute grocery stop if you request it.
The driver sent me a text to call him once we landed; as I was walking off the plane he called me to tell him where I was. I’m sure he was doing this to be helpful, but it was a little pushy - I just got off a flight with two small kids who needed to find a bathroom, and I planned to call him after we got our bearings.
The car seats we requested - two boosters - were indeed installed. However, with the layout of the Suburban, one was in the middle of the back. I sat there with my daughter and there was no seat belt for my seat - something I didn’t discover until our driver had taken off like a bat out of he!! to exit the airport. On the way back to the airport at the end of the trip, they gave us an infant car seat - way too small for my daughter - and a booster, and again I had no seat belt. With tips, we paid $240 for the car service - I would not pay this again and will be trying Mears next time.
But - all’s well that ends well, and I arrived seatbelt-less but intact at the Polynesian - and that’s where the WOWs began! Next up: the POLY!