Living on *Island Time*! A 10 day vacation at the Poly in Sept (Pics & veggie/pescetarian food)

[kelowatt]

Aloooooooohaaa!


My name is Kel, and I wanted to write a trip report about my family trip to WDW this September before too much time had passed.

Your cast o' characters (from left to right)
Me (I'm 40, and I live in Boston where the rest of my family is is in Buffalo)
The Silver Fox (my dad who is an annual passholder who takes a couple trips a year, but won't move to FL yet because he plays ice hockey three times a week)
N (his girlfriend)
Baby Nephew (who is 14 months, and is the cutest baby in the world)
Sis (who plays roller derby and is the best)
BiL (who has a pretty dry sense of humor)



We spent 10 days at the Poly celebrating my 40th.


This is a pic of Sis, Dad, Mom and I on our last trip with mom in 1999. She passed away about 6 years ago. Disney has held a special place for us as a family for years, and it was great to get to go with the baby.

 

[awalker1015]

Can't wait to read your report!! I spent my 40th at WDW in 2013. Great way to celebrate.

Sorry about your mom. . Glad you can keep making the wonderful memories!

 

[kelowatt]

Arrival Day!


So, I flew out of lovely Logan Airport with a stop at BWI

They are VERY into Old Bay at BWI. I got myself a bag of potato chips seasoned with it for a snack on the way.
Then on to Orlando! I love the monorail at the Orlando airport. Even the airport knows you are there for fun!

We rented a van (since it was going to be 5 adults and a baby in a car seat) made a stop at Publix for provisions and drove on to the Poly.
When we first planned this trip, we had booked rooms at Pop Century. We've stayed in the value's a bunch, and had a blast. And considering how many were going it seemed like an economical choice. Well, Sis and Bro-in-law went on a trip in april without me (Mere weeks before my actual 40th...pout) because they wanted Baby Nephew's first ride to be Pirates. It's our families traditional first ride, and it was closed while we were there. They stayed at an All Star, and apparently taking the stroller on and off the bus was enough to get my Bro-in-law to book a monorail resort instead, and my dad looked into passholder discounts, and there we were. I have very fond memories of the Poly from the mid-eighties. We stayed there for my dad's 40th with an earlier version of the dining plan (I think it's now called the platinum plan. We ate waaaay too much food, and rode boats and I took some sort of behind the scenes class and everything). Financially I don't know if this is a decision we would make again (although it looked like my sister and bro-in-law were seriously considering DVC while we were there), but it was really wonderful and possibly the most relaxing disney vacation ever.

We had a room in Fiji, which was PERFECT. Our room faced Luau Cove and the GF, and we had adjoining rooms on the third floor (sis and bro-in-law had a king room, dad and I had two queen rooms). The construction was on the other side of the resort, so the only time we saw it was when we walked over to the TTC. We were just on the other side of the marina so it was a short walk from the Ceremonial House.


Here is the view from our rooms. You could see the monorail go by, and you could hear the music from Luau Cove every night, which was wonderful
The best part was having adjoining rooms. Baby Nephew had a hard time adapting to sleeping in the new room. He was not loving the Pack-n-play, so they got him a crib. There were a couple of times where dad and I would go down to the Terrace at Trader Sam's for a drink while they were putting the baby down, just to come up and see them lounging on one of our beds as to not disturb the baby.

And now....for my favorite picture of all of vacation


Every morning I would go down to Capt Cooks with all of our refillable mugs and then dad and I would sit on the balcony enjoying breakfast. Baby Nephew could hear us from the other side of the balcony, and would peek under the privacy screen

my bro-in-law's view

After settling in, it was time to go to Chef Mickey's!



(this baby is giving side eye at the 6th grade level!)

Chef Mickey's was fun. While you wait there is a photopass photographer that takes a group shot next to a fiberglass Chef Mickey sculpture, which is a decent way to pass the time. Most of the characters were great with Baby Nephew (although it was hard to get Minnie to stop by). The food was better than expected based on reviews. Nothing too fancy, and i wouldn't recommend it for the food itself, but other than fish that was too dry, nothing seemed egregiously bad. I had some sushi and fish, and there was some ok seaweed salad. The dessert table had some yummy options. And since we were celebrating my birthday, I got a vanilla cupcake.



We headed back to the Poly, and dad and I had some beverages at the Tiki Terrace at Trader Sam's. We eventually went inside Trader Sam's on this trip, but for me it's all about the Terrace. It's just tables with umbrellas out back, with a waterfall and a ukelele player. I would say the prime spot is the left corner table, because you get a great view of Wishes and the Water Pageant, and they play the fireworks music on the Terrace. It was amazing.


Also, the blood orange margarita I had was fantastic!

Such a great first day!

 

[kelowatt]

Can't wait to read your report!! I spent my 40th at WDW in 2013. Great way to celebrate.

Sorry about your mom. . Glad you can keep making the wonderful memories!

Thanks.

My mom was diagnosed with MS when I was 13. Part of why Disney was so special to us as a family, was even as her illness progressed the accessibility meant that we were able to enjoy family time without having to worry so much about whether or not she would be able to participate. The first trip after she passed was particularly bitter-sweet, and there are still times where I miss having her there, but it's also nice to have a place with so many happy memories of her. And it will be nice to be able to share them with Baby Nephew too.

 

[kelowatt]

The One Where I Break The Little Mermaid

So, it's our first park day. We're going to the Magic Kingdom!

aaaaaand, the monorail is broken.

We wind up walking over to the TTC and taking the Ferry (One of the zillion things I love about the Poly is how close it is to the TTC, which makes getting to Epcot or getting around a broken monorail a lot easier)


Me and Dad on the ferry to MK

All this adventuring put us behind on our morning, and we were late for our first FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle (but when we explained, the lovely cast member let us in anyhow)


The expressions on Bro-in-law's, Baby Nephew's and Sis's face pretty much sum them up

After, we went on Mine Train. This was my first time and I LOOOOVED IT!


(I'm disneybounding as Snow White)
BTW, the baby swap thing is THE BEST! My sister and bro-in-law ran into some friends from high school who were staying at the Poly (our trips overlapped by 1 day) who handed us some left over baby swap tickets. I didn't realize that the tickets you got were good for DAYS and DAYS. We would show Baby Nephew to the folks at the fastpass line and then they would hand us baby swap passes that we could use later on in the trip. I rode Mine Train 4 times this trip in part because of baby swap.

After Mine Train it was time to have lunch at BOG.

I had the Salad Nicoise, which was pretty good. The fish was not the best tuna I've ever had, but the egg was poached PERFECTLY



We decided to finish off New Fantasyland by riding Voyage of the Little Mermaid....

Which I managed to break when my umbrella fell out of my bag and onto the track!

(break is a strong word. But the ride stopped for a while, and it was almost certainly my fault)

Afterwards, Bro-in-law decided to take Baby Nephew home, and we hit up a couple of the thrill rides, including Splash Mountain and Big Thunder!

but first......


VICTORY!

The minute I saw this jug online, I knew it had to be mine! I saw it at the drink station across from Country Bears, and ran up to it. It's sitting on my bookshelf now, and every time I look at it I smile.
Best. Souvenir. Sipper. EVER.

(Side note: I forgot how hot and humid it gets in Florida. We usually go either in early spring or much later in the fall. Most days by afternoon I was pretty wilty, and there were times where keeping the baby cool was a project. Animal Kingdom in particular was difficult and we wound up cancelling our second day there in favor of more Epcot and Magic Kingdom days).

We went back to the hotel after and had dinner at Capt Cooks. While the veggie friendly options there weren't abundant, it wasn't too bad. I was expecting to run up to Kona Island for sushi but it never did come to that. (But would it kill them to get a veggie burger?) I had their fish tacos. I am pretty sure Bro-in-law had a flatbread. The fish taco's had a nice little kick to them.



The rest of the family decided to sack out and relax and I went off to the Magic Kingdom to see if my umbrella had been returned to guest services. It hadn't...so I was told to go to lost and found at the TTC the next day.