CDN Family Road Trip, Binge DIS, ICEP Pick up & stay at Poly DVC Studio and HRH

[MichelleTO]

Pre-trip Background and Day 1 Long Drive Road

“We were not doing any more large Disney trips” says DH after our last trip in 2011 – “we could be going to Europe for the cost of what we pay at Disney.” Yes dear – guess he doesn’t know secretly I have been looking at Disneyland Paris. So back in Jan 2015 DD lands an International College Exchange placement for the summer and that pretty much trumped this statement, as we couldn’t miss the opportunity to take advantage of the discounts, free tickets etc. Besides someone has to go pick her up – right?

Back up a few months to ICEP drop off

She gets her placement for May to August and has to arrive the long weekend in May – perfect! So off we go to Buffalo along with Grandma (made it a 3 generation girls weekend). A stop at US customs, they called us into secondary to review her J1 Visa and tell us we were supposed to notify Nexxus - oops hadn't done that but luckily a Nexxus person was there and assisted us. Early flt. to MCO, picked up a rental car and headed to Pop Century then to Epcot for 12 hours!!! And our fist Magic band experience - loved it.

Next day got her checked in with Disney and all settled into to her Disney digs for 3 months after a few Walmart and Walgreen stops. We stayed at Pop Century two nights while she got all settled. This was the first time for Grandma at this resort and she liked it, I have been here a couple of short stays during a conference and then as well during the Marathon week. This was the first time I actually sat by the pool. I must say it was a great stay and we were very impressed with everything except for the huge lineups at luggage check on our departure morning. Most impressed with the selection of food at the food court, I didn’t remember that many healthy choices. Took the opportunity to walk through Art of Animation – sadly was not impressed with the feel of the resort with the buildings being boxes with no outside balconies. Theming was nice but will not be a place I will stay but can see the draw for young families. I had been at Pop in 2009 and remember looking at AOA from the bridge while it was in the abandoned construction phase. So nice to have this all completed and the running loop around the lake is great! Time for us to leave her had a cry and kiss goodbye as DD starts a dream job in Magic Kingdom. I am certain I was more excited!!



Family Road Trip - 2 day drive

Fast FWD to August. DD has had a great 3 months as a CP! All of us living vicariously through her experiences. We had decided early on, or I had, that we would take advantage of the discounts offered to CPs and plan a family trip around picking her up. So family road trip and a drive to Florida her we come. We pack up the SUV - with the roof carrier to ensure we have space for her stuff. Lots of arguing over packing - argh DH always wasn't to share a suitcase and leaves me no room.

We planned to do a two day drive down and back and to pass the time downloaded the DIS podcasts to listen on our way. BINGE DIS!!!! We did this on a road trip last winter and loved this way of getting caught up on any shows we missed. Great drive down binge listening to the gang. Really loved this way of listening as we got all the jokes that you would only understand if you listen to the shows back to back. We were actually running out of drive time and I wanted to listen to more of the universal shows we loaded in case I missed any great info before we got there. Loved the Disneyland 7 + 7, "remember go to Disneyland", yes Pete we are sold! That's going to be another road trip - don't tell DH. The two DS in the back seats had various electronics plugged in so didn't even realize how far we had driven until they stepped out into 38c heat in SC. Now it has been a hot summer at home but this was steamy! Cant wait till we hit FL, and we did expect this given it is August. Day 1 was a quick 15 hour of drive for an overnight in SC followed by a short 4 hours on day 2 to get us to MCO. We did our obligatory Walmart run in Jacksonville when we had to make a gas stop as I didn't want to endure the craziness of the MCO Turkey lake Rd. location. Overall the road trip time flew by - much easier now the kids are really adults - 17 and 18 and basically need the odd food, water and a place to plug in their laptops etc. Then all of us sudden we were in MCO and at the DDs apt.

Goodbye Patterson hello Poly DVC Studio

Packed DD up from the apt. which was really quite nice, she lived in Patterson with 4 other wonderful CPs. She still had a few days of work left but decided she would rather stay with us at The Poly rather than at her apt. go figure. After a few tense moments and cursing by DH trying to pack all her stuff into the SUV - yikes it was full! We were off to our vacation digs at the Poly DVC Studio!!

 

[MichelleTO]

ALOHA Polynesian Village Resort

We were so excited to be driving into Disney; it never gets old driving under the signs. We got a fantastic deal on the studio suite at the Poly because of DDs discount as a CP. We had originally been booked at a moderate as this was to be a budget trip – but ended up with a room at the Poly for a few dollars more – I wasn’t going to ask why or how – just take it! We have become Poly fans, although we have stayed at most of the values and moderates and other deluxe resorts over the past 25+ years. My first Poly stay was when I travelled with my parents in 1978 – the room was crazy expensive then at a rate of $75 per night! Have been hooked ever since. Driving up to the new sign The Polynesian Village Resort – try to school my family on the history of the name changes, longhouse name changes etc. “oh Mom we know we know.” But we are all doing our happy dance - we are home ALOHA Poly!

We are prepared for some inconveniences with construction and expect to get a “bad room”, but get a great room on the second floor of Pago Pago, with a balcony overlooking the garden courtyard. Still lots of construction but around the quiet pool. Rorotonga we felt location was the worst while we were there(1st week of August) the rooms on the ground floor, which they had guests in, faced a screen that was to block out the sight of the construction for the quiet pool. But along with that there was construction “crap” a bit too close to the guest areas and pretty noisy work taking place as they were basically digging up the old pool. Our favorite longhouse is Tokelau, we always request it but this time I felt bad asking for anything given DD was a CP. We were so glad not to be in Tokelau for this trip or any of the longhouses viewing onto this pool area, and found the Pago Pago location fantastic with its private parking lot and its proximity to the walkway to the TTC. It was also so quiet and peaceful. Some may have found it a bit too far to Great Ceremonial House, but our kids are big now and we didn’t spend any time at the pool – yes its true not even a dip in the water at the Volcano pool. Oh how times have changed for us as we used to live in that pool!



DVC Studio Room layout and family of 5

Pago Pago is great, all common areas renovated for DVC, it is bright and clean and welcoming. Our room is amazing, these are basically the same footprint of the old rooms just a revised layout. This was the one thing I loved about Tokelau was the size do the rooms, they were huge for a family of 5. So I was a bit apprehensive knowing the living area was going to be smaller with the addition of the second bathroom.



We were very comfortable in the room. Given we are really 5 adults (technically 17 classifies as a kid someplaces). We like having eh couch area

We loved having the two bathrooms, very helpful for 5 getting showered and ready each day. I think however they made the actual space in the larger bathroom was a waste there was tons of open space in this room that was unnecessary. Think this could be a bit smaller so that a second toilet could have been placed in the bathroom with the shower and sink vanity. Great storage in the bathrooms with the drawers under the vanity in both rooms, we used this space for toiletries etc. but certainly if people wanted more clothing storage space this would work. We had so much space in the first bathroom we actually put some empty luggage there. Beds very comfy including the pull out couch which the boys felt was superior, but not as good as our bed as they reminded us. I reminded them who paid for the trip. The Murphy bed was also nice – this was DDs spot and she loved the lit mural. Table and two chairs slightly smaller than the old rooms, this just ended up as the electronics dumping ground. The pantry area with sink, micro, toaster (loved this!) coffee maker and fridge had lots of cupboard space for all our food items. Liked that they stocked it with glasses, coffee cups and then disposable plates, bowls and cutlery. The only thing I would suggest is two real wine glasses and replace those crappy coffee makers with Keurigs. We used the under bed drawers for storage and as well the chest/coffee table that sat in front of the couch. This was another great spot to store clothes if needed. Overall we felt they did a great job on these rooms and even with 5 adults were comfy. We made sure that clothes were put way in suitcases or put under beds etc.to ensure the room didn’t get cluttered. The closet was large and had a pack and play crib – which we didn’t need – and a laundry basket which we did use to keep our dirty stuff separate. Balcony the standard two chairs and table – my fave spot for morning coffee or evening glass of wine. Two little glitches with the room that were promptly fixed. The doors to the bathrooms were cleverly designed as sliding barn style hanging doors, to save space. The one had to be repaired as you would get locked into the one bathroom, funny the first few times. Also one day the magic bands would not work to unlock the door and no lights would go on at all. Luckily there was someone inside that opened the door. Maintenance came and determined the batteries were dead. Who knew each door takes 3 AA batteries! Voila Mickey to Mickey -green light- and the door unlocks.

Trader Sams

Got settled and then DD had to head to work, we dropped her off which was cool and made DS pick her up at some crazy time like 1:30 am. SO now it’s time to explore all the updates to the Poly and then just happen to be by Trader Sams as it opens – and get in! Great spot, a thing you need to do once but I can’t see myself lining up to do this again now that we have seen the “show”. I would however sit on the patio and listen to the fantastic live music and enjoy all the same drinks and food out there.



The new pool area, lobby and area around the Great Ceremonial house get a big thumbs up from us! We thought we would not like the removal of the waterfall but really enjoyed the feel of the lobby and noticed how much more welcoming it was and how people were actually sitting in there enjoying the space. Yes the smell is still there, so don’t worry crazy Poly fans. However I did miss the stream that used to run out towards the pool, now there is a big grassy area, they must use for events etc.

We then head to Contemporary to check out the shops and hotel prior to our California Grill reservation. We get seated at a perfect table overlooking lake and the MK. Fantastic dinner then tour on the roof top patio – the boys are impressed, too bad they don’t remember they have been taken out here many time before to see fireworks.



Finish the shops, do a monorail trip to the GF, a bit more shopping there and then a nice walk back to the Poly past the wedding pavilion. We had planned to watch the water parade but ended up falling asleep early. Previous trips I would have dragged everyone out to the beach to watch this and wishes. Figure we will have three more nights we can catch them. Luckily DS has the task of picking up his sister after her shift. Off to bed as we have to be at rope drop at Epcot- thank goodness its at 9am and not early magic hours.

 

[MichelleTO]

Day 1 in Parks - Epcot

Breakfast in the room - as per usual for our trips, but amazingly better with the kitchenette area and the toaster. We have all our fast passes and love the Magic Bands and my Disney experience App. Likely because I am a spreadsheet Disney planner and love everything pre organized. I found the app Ok and enjoyed having all our info in one spot on my phone. Also didn't mind the booking of the fast passes once I figured out you didn't have to accept their groupings! This isn't that clear and once I figured out how to move the individual FPS around it was much better. I am hoping they will figure out how you can book the extra Fps via the app rather than at the kiosks once you have burned your first 3.


We found Epcot rather empty! Where were all the hoards of people during what is peak season? blew through everything in Future World by lunch including Figment ( did that for Cathy) and Captain EO! Onto the World showcase and we broker from tradition and started on The Canadian side. We have for some reason - likely Margaritas - always started with Mexico, well this time we went right. Did the obligatory stop in Canada - really I wish we could do something better here, the updated movie is better but really the gift shop is well, lame. Tims coffee - really? thats what represents us?


Gardens are pretty and certainly if anyone is in Victoria they should visit the real Butchart Gardens - amazing. Ok off to other countries including our favourite shopping ares in Japan - DH get some of his faves, marble drink and Mochi - love this store.


So the eating( and a little drinking) around the world begins. Wouldn't be a trip to a them park without a Funnel Cake.


Did I mention it is extremely hot, go figure Florida in August - what were we thinking! Finished off the World Showcase after stops at every country and a salute to Maelstrom RIP. Now Frozen decor graces the barriers.

At least we still have the ride in Mexico to bring back the memories.



Finally time to head back to our home away from home. DD was working her last shift and took the car so we just hung out at the Poly for the evening, Captains Cooks for dinner and then some Dole Whip for DS for dessert. The older DS decided he didn't have enough walking for the day so he headed to MK to close out the night and to see sis at work!