During our fabulous dinner at Sea Dog Brewery I threw an idea on the table for how to make the most of our pretty much only evening where we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn/how to spend our first magical night in Disney. We've never stayed late enough to see Wishes. I learned about Poly Beach Wishes viewing from my fine friends on the Dis last year. Could we do this? Was it possible? It was only 5ish o'clock (we eat early, what can I say?). That meant a whopping 4+ hours to Wishes.
Despite hearing about the mess that was Downtown Disney, we decided to try to pass some time there. The parking signs pointed to the Castmember training/application center across the street from Downtown Disney. There were flocks of people crossing the busy road to get to their Disney shopping and dining emporium. There was no way we were parking that far away and luckily, we were able to enter the actual Downtown Disney lot AND snag a spot. However, the place was mobbed. We headed into the big
Disney Store to let the kids pick out their Disney souvenirs and also to pick up gifts for two birthday parties we would be attending as soon as we got home. Alyssa picked out some awful MINIATURE Aurora play set. Like, remember micro machines? The pieces were even smaller. I knew it was a poor choice, but the child was so excited. I caved. Fast forward a few hours and what a nightmare to try to keep track of all the little shoes and accessories. Tommy picked a lightning McQueen/Dinaco race car set. A little bit better of a choice, but still not great. For Tommy's friend I picked out a cute charm bracelet with 4 or 5 princess charms- she LOVED it. For friend #2 an awesome CM helped me make a light saber in the toy store which was also a super gift.
We went to the Christmas shop to pick out our annual tree ornament-
Tommy picked a McQueen last year and Alyssa picked an Aurora this year (much to TJ's dismay). Some poor listening ensued and we made our way through the swarms of people in search of serenity in our mini van. At this point- it probably wasn't even 7:00 and hope of a successful evening was diminishing. Luckily, a Disney obsessed friend from home living vicariously through us and constant texting back and forth encouraged an early arrival at Poly to check out the resort and ride the monorail, get some adult beverage in those pineapples and Dole Whips.
We headed over to the Polynesian. There was lots of construction and walls up- no surprises there. I really enjoyed the Hawaiian plant life and fountains. I've never been to Hawaii, but felt like I was there upon entering the Poly. Everyone at the front desk waved hello. We still had a long way to go until the fireworks. Behavior was awful at this point- there was no way we were going to make it. When we put our foot down and turned around and headed back out to the car it got real. Everyone wanted to see fireworks. There were promises made, and the kid got his pixie dust. We gave it another chance. It wasn't a complete behavior redemption at that point, but it was much better.
We headed up to the monorail and the kids were so excited to see the Magic Kingdom. Ok, they weren't the only ones. I was pretty excited too! Then, we got stuck in the Contemporary for a 'reboot' I tucked this moment into the back of my head thinking we would avoid monorails as much as possible from this point on. No way did I want to be stuck in a broken monorail in August heat with no a/c. Despite the hold up, I was a little relieved since I knew we still had lots of time to kill before Wishes.
After our extended monorail ride we made another bit of an error. We headed directly to Poly Beach- not realizing it was quite the hike from the main house. We should have gotten ice cream and drinks first, as once we got to the beach, there was no going back. We arrived just as the campfire/smores were ending (Darn), and enjoyed being the only ones on the beach for awhile- rocking on the swings and then I was able to breath a little relief as we began settling into lounge chairs to watch a Pumba and Timon internet safety PSA. Side note- the new DVC Poly homes look awesome, but they do block part of the beach view of Cinderella's castle.
I had bought tons of light up necklaces at the dollar store- an awesome enhancement to evenings on our trip last year. However, I got some melons of light up jewelry this year- they weren't very bright and some were total duds.
By this point we had exhaustion on our side rather than against us and the kids were actually RESTING in their chairs. Before long The Emporer's New Groove was on. I've never seen this movie and though my kids were glued to it, I decided I hadn't been missing much by not seeing it ever and played on my phone.
The movie was paused so we could watch the Electrical Water Pageant- kind of a dated, lame show, but it passed the time and the kids really enjoyed it.
And finally, Wishes.
The kids loved the fireworks and I was so happy we did it and stuck it out. The best part was the smooth exit from the Poly back to CBR. This was our latest evening in the world and we had another leisure day ahead of us where we would check in to our actual 'home' for the week, meet up with our family, AND have an unexpected hiccup that would result in some pixie dust grown up fun.