Dh, myself, our three kids and my niece just returned from 8 nights at Disney. We stayed at the Poly for the first time and loved it. I have several jumbled observations....
This resort is much nicer than than All Stars, and we are glad we changed.
The parks were MUCH more crowded this trip as opposed to five years ago, the same week. Chalked it up to the end of year millenium celebration.
MVMCP was no where near as magical as it was before. Has to literally search and hunt for the cookies and hot chocolate, and boy did we need the warmth of the cocoa, it was very cold the first 5 days of our trip. Not to mention that although we didn't wait as long in lines as you would a normal day, the waits surely increased from our last trip...could this be due to the fact that they have doubled ticket sales for the event? The "snowing" on main street, was also much less than last time, you had to really really look to see the "snow" falling.
What is up with the toilets at the parks? My goodness the auto flush will suck you down if you are not careful, not to mention getting back splashed by the flushing...gross! I would have to take my daughter in to a stall, and when she would get down, for me to help her get redressed, we would both get splashed, every time...ugh. We learned to move away and FAST, lol.
I was not impressed by the Contemporary at all, I thought it is in dire need of a facelift.
The waitress we had at the steakhouse at the contemporary was the best we have ever had.
The character bfast we had at Poly and the character lunch we had at Epcot at "the Land" were both missing Minnie mouse. Hmmmm. We pay to see certain characters and they don't show. We had one of the later seatings at the Poly bkfast, and had to ask for goofy to come over, as we had watched him leave the room. I witnessed our waiter having a heated discussion with him and reminding him he had never visited his section and the kids were all waiting. It was very obvious Goofy felt he was done for the day. Thank goodness no kids saw this exchange. The food at both was wonderful and plentiful.
The best restaurant we have ever eated was The Flying Fish. I made hubbie take us back two days after our first visit, because I wanted the same exact meal, and again, it was wonderful (ceasar salad and homemade ravioli) YUM
The pool open at the Poly was wonderful and heated. We were given a wonderful room right off the pool, in the Tokelau bldg, ground floor.
We were finally able in 10 years to see the water pageant parade and the fireworks over the MK the first night. What a magical beginning for our trip.
Getting the kids faces painted is well worth their delight. It only takes 5 mins or less per face and is only around $5-6 each.
The transportation was excellent with the exception of getting back to the Poly from the boardwalk. It took us almost an hour to get back to the Poly after a late diner at The Flying Fish. Hubbie almost missed the flight home when he had to go to the BW early the last morning to retrieve an article my son had left at the DVC. It took him 55 mins to get there and he had the luck to catch a cab on the way back. He pulled up just as our driver came to pick us up.
After feeding the ducks the first morning upon wakup right on our patio, they came waddling up every morning when we went outside. I think I loved it more than the kids. The white crane like birds, with long legs and beaks were also delightful.
The kids passports and craft table at epcot for the kids masks were great. We all loved doing this.
I really dislike the new PS arrangements Disney has. The policy has changed since we were last there. We used to be able to walk into most of the epcot restaurants and get a seat, we are willing to wait, even an hour, as there is so much to do. But most of them will not accept walkups now. It is difficult for us to know where we will be at any meal time, and to be that planned was difficult.
We missed Fantasmic, but saw all of the other parades and fireworks. Our kids actually got bored of seeing fireworks every night, can you imagine? Dh and I did not, though, lol.
The refillable mugs were a godsend. We even lost two of the tops, and had them replaced, gratis.
We joined the DVC club, but as an aside, even if you don't, go to one of their booths, and ask for a kid football.
The only mishap we had was my niece, along with several other kids on a WDW bus, getting grease all over their hands and sleeves from the doorjambs. Be careful!! This happened on the bus to AK, we went to guest services where we were given a voucher for a sweatshirt and instructions to leave the soiled dress with the gift shop to send up to guest svcs for gratis dry cleaning and delivery to our room. After two days and no delivery I called AK guest services to inquire whree the dress was and was told that their "normal" procedure was for me to bring the dress up, not a salesperson in the shop. I was really getting reprimanded. HELLO! I reiterated what I had been told and by whom and that I just did what I had been told to do and was answered quite curtly, that the guest svc rep was very busy with customers at the moment. After being nice at the beginning, I retorted that I was also very busy and did not have time to sit on the phone for 45 min while they figured out what happened, and that it was also their mistake. I was immediatly transferred to a supervisor who was really exceptionally nice, and had $50 in cash delivered to our room for reinbursement for the dress and was also told they had lost the dress. But lo and behold, the last night of our trip, we came back to our room, and there it was hanging in the closet, dry cleaned (at our expense) but the stain is still there. That was a nice last minute surprise. It was a handmade dress duplicate to my daughters, so it is a one of kind, irreplaceable.
The AK is my favorite resort. After talking with people, you either love it or hate it. We loved it, the safari was great.
What happened to the characters just walking around? Now they are at designated places, often with long lines.
We finally met Minnie at the character bus stop at Epcot at 5:05 the last night. Don't miss this one if you want to meet the characters. The ad for this is in small print on the Epcot brochure and map. I don't think too many people know about it, the lines were pretty short.
We were in line to meet Daisy duck and actually were getting autographs and pics with her (the last character we HAD to get an autograph for) when several adults butted in, literally pushed my kids out of the way, "pretending" they didn't speak English. When I went to say something, a CM came up and said it was time for the characters to go, NOW and took them all away. My daughter was in tears, as it was her turn to get an autograph, before these rude people pushed her out of the way. Another CM came up to us, to find out what happended, grabbed my daughters autograph book, ran up to the bus, and had Daisy sign it for her. Again, above and beyond the call of duty. This CM saved the day.
DH and I went to Fultons Crab House for dinner then over to Pleasure island afterwards to the Adventurers Club and then outside for fireworks. A very nice night away from the kids We love that club, and look forward to going there every trip.
Well,this has gotten a bit long winded, but please feel free to contact me or post any questions.
Warmly,
Kelly
[This message was edited by LisaTx on 12-13-00 at 04:06 PM.]
This resort is much nicer than than All Stars, and we are glad we changed.
The parks were MUCH more crowded this trip as opposed to five years ago, the same week. Chalked it up to the end of year millenium celebration.
MVMCP was no where near as magical as it was before. Has to literally search and hunt for the cookies and hot chocolate, and boy did we need the warmth of the cocoa, it was very cold the first 5 days of our trip. Not to mention that although we didn't wait as long in lines as you would a normal day, the waits surely increased from our last trip...could this be due to the fact that they have doubled ticket sales for the event? The "snowing" on main street, was also much less than last time, you had to really really look to see the "snow" falling.
What is up with the toilets at the parks? My goodness the auto flush will suck you down if you are not careful, not to mention getting back splashed by the flushing...gross! I would have to take my daughter in to a stall, and when she would get down, for me to help her get redressed, we would both get splashed, every time...ugh. We learned to move away and FAST, lol.
I was not impressed by the Contemporary at all, I thought it is in dire need of a facelift.
The waitress we had at the steakhouse at the contemporary was the best we have ever had.
The character bfast we had at Poly and the character lunch we had at Epcot at "the Land" were both missing Minnie mouse. Hmmmm. We pay to see certain characters and they don't show. We had one of the later seatings at the Poly bkfast, and had to ask for goofy to come over, as we had watched him leave the room. I witnessed our waiter having a heated discussion with him and reminding him he had never visited his section and the kids were all waiting. It was very obvious Goofy felt he was done for the day. Thank goodness no kids saw this exchange. The food at both was wonderful and plentiful.
The best restaurant we have ever eated was The Flying Fish. I made hubbie take us back two days after our first visit, because I wanted the same exact meal, and again, it was wonderful (ceasar salad and homemade ravioli) YUM
The pool open at the Poly was wonderful and heated. We were given a wonderful room right off the pool, in the Tokelau bldg, ground floor.
We were finally able in 10 years to see the water pageant parade and the fireworks over the MK the first night. What a magical beginning for our trip.
Getting the kids faces painted is well worth their delight. It only takes 5 mins or less per face and is only around $5-6 each.
The transportation was excellent with the exception of getting back to the Poly from the boardwalk. It took us almost an hour to get back to the Poly after a late diner at The Flying Fish. Hubbie almost missed the flight home when he had to go to the BW early the last morning to retrieve an article my son had left at the DVC. It took him 55 mins to get there and he had the luck to catch a cab on the way back. He pulled up just as our driver came to pick us up.
After feeding the ducks the first morning upon wakup right on our patio, they came waddling up every morning when we went outside. I think I loved it more than the kids. The white crane like birds, with long legs and beaks were also delightful.
The kids passports and craft table at epcot for the kids masks were great. We all loved doing this.
I really dislike the new PS arrangements Disney has. The policy has changed since we were last there. We used to be able to walk into most of the epcot restaurants and get a seat, we are willing to wait, even an hour, as there is so much to do. But most of them will not accept walkups now. It is difficult for us to know where we will be at any meal time, and to be that planned was difficult.
We missed Fantasmic, but saw all of the other parades and fireworks. Our kids actually got bored of seeing fireworks every night, can you imagine? Dh and I did not, though, lol.
The refillable mugs were a godsend. We even lost two of the tops, and had them replaced, gratis.
We joined the DVC club, but as an aside, even if you don't, go to one of their booths, and ask for a kid football.
The only mishap we had was my niece, along with several other kids on a WDW bus, getting grease all over their hands and sleeves from the doorjambs. Be careful!! This happened on the bus to AK, we went to guest services where we were given a voucher for a sweatshirt and instructions to leave the soiled dress with the gift shop to send up to guest svcs for gratis dry cleaning and delivery to our room. After two days and no delivery I called AK guest services to inquire whree the dress was and was told that their "normal" procedure was for me to bring the dress up, not a salesperson in the shop. I was really getting reprimanded. HELLO! I reiterated what I had been told and by whom and that I just did what I had been told to do and was answered quite curtly, that the guest svc rep was very busy with customers at the moment. After being nice at the beginning, I retorted that I was also very busy and did not have time to sit on the phone for 45 min while they figured out what happened, and that it was also their mistake. I was immediatly transferred to a supervisor who was really exceptionally nice, and had $50 in cash delivered to our room for reinbursement for the dress and was also told they had lost the dress. But lo and behold, the last night of our trip, we came back to our room, and there it was hanging in the closet, dry cleaned (at our expense) but the stain is still there. That was a nice last minute surprise. It was a handmade dress duplicate to my daughters, so it is a one of kind, irreplaceable.
The AK is my favorite resort. After talking with people, you either love it or hate it. We loved it, the safari was great.
What happened to the characters just walking around? Now they are at designated places, often with long lines.
We finally met Minnie at the character bus stop at Epcot at 5:05 the last night. Don't miss this one if you want to meet the characters. The ad for this is in small print on the Epcot brochure and map. I don't think too many people know about it, the lines were pretty short.
We were in line to meet Daisy duck and actually were getting autographs and pics with her (the last character we HAD to get an autograph for) when several adults butted in, literally pushed my kids out of the way, "pretending" they didn't speak English. When I went to say something, a CM came up and said it was time for the characters to go, NOW and took them all away. My daughter was in tears, as it was her turn to get an autograph, before these rude people pushed her out of the way. Another CM came up to us, to find out what happended, grabbed my daughters autograph book, ran up to the bus, and had Daisy sign it for her. Again, above and beyond the call of duty. This CM saved the day.
DH and I went to Fultons Crab House for dinner then over to Pleasure island afterwards to the Adventurers Club and then outside for fireworks. A very nice night away from the kids We love that club, and look forward to going there every trip.
Well,this has gotten a bit long winded, but please feel free to contact me or post any questions.
Warmly,
Kelly
[This message was edited by LisaTx on 12-13-00 at 04:06 PM.]
