"I think I'm in love, and her name is Polynesia..." an Aug/Sept '15 TR (NEW TR link @ end!)

[rteetz]

I can't wait until we stay at the Beach Club in January. I loved the location when we stayed at the dolphin in 2012 and being even closer to Epcot and then with everything else there I can tell it's going to be great.

Great pictures of the area by the way.

I'm intrigued to see the GMR changes in person.

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like you got quite a bit accomplished in a short period of time. It's crazy how fast that TSMM line builds up. Have you heard that new parts for Star Tours are going to be released along with the 7th movie? That should be cool!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love that sunrise shot as well.
I hope you enjoyed EMH. I always make it a point to hit the parks when I can during EMH....but then.....we are early risers.

 

[skier_pete]

I can't wait until we stay at the Beach Club in January. I loved the location when we stayed at the dolphin in 2012 and being even closer to Epcot and then with everything else there I can tell it's going to be great.

Great pictures of the area by the way.

I'm intrigued to see the GMR changes in person.

It really is a great place to stay. We spent quite a bit of time there, but I really would like to spend time there when the weather is more palatable. I don't know about when you go in January though - it may be too cool for the pool, which would be too bad.

Sounds like you got quite a bit accomplished in a short period of time. It's crazy how fast that TSMM line builds up. Have you heard that new parts for Star Tours are going to be released along with the 7th movie? That should be cool!

Yeah, I heard about the Star Tours additions. Obviously they can't bring the characters in. (The ride takes place before episode 4.) But they certainly can visit new planets. I think that's the smartest thing they did with this ride is the randomizer. As someone that doesn't go that frequently (once a year), it's always fun seeing what you get. Hopefully they'll have the new parts in place for when we are at Disneyland. (Hoping for Hyper-Space mountain as well!)

Love that sunrise shot as well.
I hope you enjoyed EMH. I always make it a point to hit the parks when I can during EMH....but then.....we are early risers.

It was fine - it definitely was an advantage to get two rides in early. It was really the only one we hit, though!

The timing of the sunrise was great. Sometimes a shot is so nice it can overcome a crappy camera. That was one of those times.

 

[skier_pete]

When we got out of the GMR, DD wanted to do Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I didn’t get pictures here either – but we had to wait about 12 minutes for the show to open. This show feels so slight to me at this point. The ride is way better….

It was around this point that we got our first photopass photo of the trip. We bought the memory maker package, though we also got in on a share with three other families. We got to meet each of the families on our trip, but I won’t share any of their photos, as that would be to me a breach of their privacy. They were all great people, and the photo share went without a hitch, and it was certainly nice to bay $42 a piece for photopass photos than $169!




I love the magic shots, but I don’t totally get this one of Baymax standing in front of us. There is also a “video” version of it that makes almost as little sense, but I didn’t bother to download it.



After this, we were all a little peckish. DD has this obsession with the minute maid frozen lemonade when we are at Disney. I can tell you which carts serve the Frozen Lemonade in every park, because I’ve had to track them down. In this case, it’s the cart near the crossroads of Hollywood and Sunset. While DD had Frozen Lemonade, DW and I had a Mickey Bar. We sat outside One Man’s Dream and enjoyed our cool snacks. (It was already hella-hot by now.)

Next we did One Man’s Dream. DD had never done this before, so she didn’t want to do it. Knowing that this might be the last time to catch it - It’s rumored to be closing to make way for the entrance to Toy Story land – we definitely wanted the chance to see it. While DD declared it “kind of boring” DW and I enjoy it, and we timed the movie pretty well so we had about 10 minutes to look around before it started.







The John Hench concept drawing of Disneyland. We got to see this in the Disney Imagineering Archives back in 2013, though not the coolest thing we saw!



Model of Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland



I like this one – scale model of Peter Pan’s Flight – including track configuration.


DD deciding she still wouldn’t go on the tower of terror, even if it was a scale model.



I had a 5-minute conversation with one of the castmembers, talking about the future of One Man’s Dream. He didn’t seem to no anything certain, but was pretty sure it would be moving/closing. “Toy Story is going to start about ½ way through this building.” We talked about possible locations (innovations, main street). Truthfully, while it’s a nice display, it’s not something really worth seeing every trip, but it is definitely something that should remain available somewhere.

We had a window that we were going to try to swing the Beauty and the Beast show and Indiana Jones back-to-back, but first we wanted to grab lunch. We were limited to about 40 minutes, so we decided to try out the ABC commissary. A place with not the best of reputations, it turned out the food was pretty OK. (Again, I forgot to take pictures. I promise I’m going to get better about this!) I had an asian chicken salad that was very tasty. DD had the fish/shrimp plate that she liked a lot. DW had a burger I think. They were all better than was expected. I ALMOST got the steak, but then as I got to the counter, I asked how they are done, and they said “you only get medium well” and then I saw them and they were about 1/3 of and inch thick so I said “Never mind!” and went with the salad.

We then headed to Sunset Boulavard and the theater of the Stars. DD wanted to see this show. Quite honestly, I think I am now past it – meaning I don’t need to see it ever again. We skipped it in 2013, so she hasn’t seen it in 4 years, but DW and I saw it last year, and overall I’ve seen it probably 8 times and really I have seen it enough. I really like B&tB, but I can’t see past the shows flaws. (Really cheap production design and the clipped version of the story…Belle is falling in love with the Beast and then Gaston and the villagers show up and Belle runs in having gone…where exactly? (The movie makes it clear…this show not so much.) I guess for a show that’s been there for 15 years you’d think they’d have a higher level of production.
















On our way to Indiana Jones I took a couple of shots of Gertie the Dinosaur at Echo Lake – on the off chance that this will be another thing that will disappear forever. For those that know little about animation history – Gertie the Dinosaur is a part of animation history, combined with the kitshiness of Hollywood of the ‘50s and ‘60s that this area is designed for.






If you want a bit more on Gertie’s history – read this:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/05/have-you-seen-gertie-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/

Then was Indiana Jones, a family favorite. I don’t know why, we’ve seen this one just as many times as B&tB, but I don’t really get tired of it, even if I know every corny line of dialog. I will miss this if it goes with the DHS overhaul, but won’t be overly sad. I always try to take pictures, but my crummy little camera can never get them.










At that point I gave up and just watched the show.

By the time this was done..we were done. It was now a little after 1 PM, and we were ready to head back to the hotel for a nice rest. (DW ended up shopping for about 45 minutes before she came back.)

So - Was EMH it worth it?? Well, the extra hour allowed us to cover all the things we wanted to hit this morning, so I would say that is it.

Next update - evening out...do we make it two parks, or three?

 

[DisneyJo]

I think our DD's could be twins, my youngest loves frozen lemonades and refuses to go on TOT too

 

[rteetz]

Great update!

I don't think we will see OMD move somewhere else unfortunately. However there have been rumors of a Walt themed restaurant in DTD/Disney springs so maybe some artifacts show up there.

I was afraid of ToT until I was pushed on it and now I enjoy it. I'm not one for drop rides but ToT was actually fun.

 

[Tinker326]

I never knew that about Gertie! Thanks for a new Disney factoid!

Sounds like you guys made good use of your lease favorite park (mine too!).

 

[jordansmama]

Following along! We were at YC end of Aug/beginning of Sept. too. Gotta love a late Labor Day. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

 

[chinooker]

Following along, looks like a great time!

 

[skier_pete]

I think our DD's could be twins, my youngest loves frozen lemonades and refuses to go on TOT too

Oh my...DD would love to have a Disney buddy! Especially one she could share her frozen lemonade fixation with.

Great update!

I don't think we will see OMD move somewhere else unfortunately. However there have been rumors of a Walt themed restaurant in DTD/Disney springs so maybe some artifacts show up there.

I was afraid of ToT until I was pushed on it and now I enjoy it. I'm not one for drop rides but ToT was actually fun.

Actually - "Walt's" wouldn't be a bad location for some of that stuff. Really, I am not devastated at all at the idea of OMD closing, we never even went in there until last year, and I am a big-time "History of Disney" guy, but I do think it's nice for them to have that piece of history in the parks somewhere, and would really like that they keep something like that somewhere within the confines of WDW!

I actually think DD might like ToT if she even got on it. She is definitely not a thrill rider, but she is starting to like coasters more. I don't find ToT nearly as bad as say RnRC. The biggest issue I have is that as I get older, my stomach can't deal with a lot of motion, but ToT doesn't bother me at all. I could do it multiple times in a row!!!

I never knew that about Gertie! Thanks for a new Disney factoid!

Sounds like you guys made good use of your lease favorite park (mine too!).

One thing about Disney Parks is that almost everything has a purpose. It's not all that easy to find, but pretty much every building on Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard has a historical building in Los Angeles that inspired it. It's those little things that I love about Disney - details that matter little to 99.9 % of park goers, yet that they put in there. (One of my favorite things in DHS is the "Valiant and Valiant" offices above Hollywood and Dine restaurant. - At the time the park was build, maybe a Roger Rabbit reference wasn't so obscure, but nowadays I find it so cool!)

It's amazing how a park that has some of my favorite rides and theming is far and away my least favorite. It's the scattershot way the park is designed, and now of course the way they are closing down huge parts of it.

Following along! We were at YC end of Aug/beginning of Sept. too. Gotta love a late Labor Day. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

Thanks for coming along. I do think it odd that Yacht Club and Beach Club are like Twinsie resorts. They are sort of two separate resorts with slightly different themeing, but because they are connected, they don't really FEEL like it. Do you find you noticed a big difference?

Following along, looks like a great time!

Thanks for joining in. I try to get updates at least once a week, sometimes twice...really depends on how busy I am. Goal is to be done with this TR before our next trip - which is only 4 months away. Hopefully you can stick around to the end.

I found the first couple of days I was somewhat out of the photo habit and didn't take a lot of pictures. As the trip went on I got better and better, and really by the time we got to the 2nd half of the trip, I was taking a bunch of pictures!

 

[buzzrelly]

Joining in and loving your TR so far! I stayed at the BC (but not the villas) before I was a DVC member, and I loved it! We are now DVC members also and just had our first DVC stay at BLT. We will be staying at the PVB next April and I can't wait to see your report of how you liked it!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

Our friends were staying at the Beach Club as well, this was their first trip to Disney with their kids (3-boys, 14, 12 and 10). They had a good time for sure. We got to see the new refurbished rooms in the true Beach Club hotel. They were pretty nice rooms, felt a little more spacious, but really might have been because they lacked the kitchenette. We took a walk over towards Boardwalk and ended up eating at the Big River Grille and Brewery Works. This was a first for us, though they had already eaten here twice on the trip. (They didn’t plan the trip much ahead, so booking options were limited.) I didn’t take any pictures of the food. For some reason this first day my food porn index way off. I ordered a beer flight – which was almost a bargain. You got 7 – 3 oz tastes of all their beers, but it was only $8. They charged $7 for a regular 16 oz beer. I had the burger, while DD had the chicken alfredo which she liked a lot. I can’t remember now what DW had. (See the importance of taking pictures!) The other family I didn’t note, but I DO know they ordered the ribs for two of their boys, and they were so had that they had to send them back. They had had this other nights and had said it was quite good, but tonight was not. They took it off the bill. We used our DVC discount and I paid for dinner. (I felt like our friends were taking time out of their vacation to visit us. They had probably spent at least twice as much for their 7 day trip as we did for our 11-day trip, and felt it would be nice to treat them.)
!

I love that alfredo! I cannot believe we missed a Big River Grille visit this time. We love just chilling out there. The beer tasting is a GREAT deal! If you do make it to Bay Lake anytime soon, do not forget that on Saturday afternoon they have a free beer tasting at the Wave.

Also, once you go deluxe it is hard to go back. Luckily, Beach Club was pretty low on the end of deluxehood based on it's rehab timing, so you'll still be going up But once you go to the Grand, it's all over.

 

[skier_pete]

Joining in and loving your TR so far! I stayed at the BC (but not the villas) before I was a DVC member, and I loved it! We are now DVC members also and just had our first DVC stay at BLT. We will be staying at the PVB next April and I can't wait to see your report of how you liked it!

Well, you might be able to tell from my TR title that I liked the Poly a little bit...it's still several days off though as we didn't get there until the 7th day of our trip. I'm only on day 2. (Though in writing it up I'm on Day 3 - I write in fits and starts and then post in bigger chunks.)

I love that alfredo! I cannot believe we missed a Big River Grille visit this time. We love just chilling out there. The beer tasting is a GREAT deal! If you do make it to Bay Lake anytime soon, do not forget that on Saturday afternoon they have a free beer tasting at the Wave.

Also, once you go deluxe it is hard to go back. Luckily, Beach Club was pretty low on the end of deluxehood based on it's rehab timing, so you'll still be going up But once you go to the Grand, it's all over.

Wait - free beer tastings? How did I not know about this! You need to SHARE these things!

Yeah, it's funny about BCV, the studios didn't FEEL very deluxe. I think though in the early days of DVC, Disney wasn't really marketing the rooms as Deluxe accomodations, or at least as much as they are now. When you think about that when they went on sale in 2002, they were going for $80 a point. Now Disney is charging $165 a point for their new resorts, AND the points required are much higher. Newer resorts definitely have a more deluxe feel, and I think that's because they have to market them as such.

It will be interesting to see how it works at the new Wilderness Lodge DVC, which it appears they are going to market as a separate DVC from the one that is already there. Will the rooms be bigger/nicer to justify the point cost??

I am a bit afraid of being spoiled by these rooms. I have always been a frugal traveler in order to make the most out of our travel dollar, and never really accepted the idea of deluxe accomodations anywhere. Disney especially I never saw the point in spending a fortune for rooms that we hardly spend any time in anyways. I still can't imagine paying $300-$500 a night for any of these hotels. (Understand I've rarely spent $200 a night on a hotel room, anywhere.) I still feel I am being a frugal traveler with DVC (resale) buy-in, because my #s show we are still paying <$200 a night for these rooms, even when factoring the buy-in cost. But I still feel like we are staying "above our pay grade" so to speak - so I don't want to ever take it for granted.

 

[disneyguy4life]

You are a DVC owner!! You lucky dog!! Well done!! My wife and I would love to do that and visit between Disneyland and WDW. That is why I am so interested in your TR. I can't wait to hear more. Keep it up.

 

[disvisitorkim]

Following along! Would love to eventually partake in DVC!

 

[MidnightParade]

Woohoo! I'm in!

Yay for Beach Club and DVC! How exciting!!!

I didn't know they had mini donuts at TL!! So annoyed I missed them now! Lol

Love Gertie! It will be sad when she goes but I suppose there will be other dinsoaur-sequel things coming to that area in a few years!

I'm with you on Beauty and the Beast! Rumour is they are enclosing the theatre and putting in a Villains show. That will be amazing! Hope it happens!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Nice update! Like you we used to do EMH but then we stopped it because I often hear the specific park is crowded on those days. We will do evening EMH but the morning ones...yawn. Although I may have to swing my on DHS during morning EMH next year. I have a feeling the new Star Wars Launch Bay will get it's own set of crowds.

Looks like a great morning at DHS! I also didn't understand that Baymax picture. We didn't get a video with ours so none of it made sense to us. Hahaha.
I really enjoyed One Man's Dream when we went there for the first time this year. It was fun to read about the history and the behind the scenes of some of the rides and structures.

I have only been on ToT once and haven't been on it again for about 18 years. I don't like freefalling!

Love the Indiana Jones show! I hope they don't get rid of it! It's a classic!

 

[skier_pete]

You are a DVC owner!! You lucky dog!! Well done!! My wife and I would love to do that and visit between Disneyland and WDW. That is why I am so interested in your TR. I can't wait to hear more. Keep it up.

We ignored DVC for a long time, not realizing about resale. It still an expensive option, but becomes much more reasonable when you look at resale. The prices have gone up quite a bit in the last year though. We paid $74 a point 18 months ago, you'd be hard pressed to find something below $85 now. Owning DVC in Florida doesn't help a lot with Disneyland though - check out my still running Pre-Trip report to read about the trials of trying to book at Disneyland!

Following along! Would love to eventually partake in DVC!

My recommendation would be to rent points at least once before you buy. The cost of renting points is still signifcantly less than staying at many of these resorts on a cash reservation, but staying DVC is not exactly the same as staying at the hotel. The studio rooms only have one bed and a pull-out sofa instead of two beds, you get less frequent maid service, and you typically don't get the same discounts available to the GP. (Though there are some discounts as owners.) We certainly don't regret the buy-in so far!

Woohoo! I'm in!

Yay for Beach Club and DVC! How exciting!!!

I didn't know they had mini donuts at TL!! So annoyed I missed them now! Lol

Yes - they have them at both water parks. One of the best things at WDW - especially if you get them fresh!

Love Gertie! It will be sad when she goes but I suppose there will be other dinsoaur-sequel things coming to that area in a few years!

I'm with you on Beauty and the Beast! Rumour is they are enclosing the theatre and putting in a Villains show. That will be amazing! Hope it happens!!

Rumors, rumors, rumors. Who knows what is true and what isn't. The latest rumor is Echo Lake won't be taken out as part of Star Wars land, but really who knows until it happens. Same thing with BatB - rumors swirl - Villians Show - Tangled Show. I just wish they would go with higher production values. If you haven't been out to DLR, check out "Mickey and the Magic Map" - I'm sure it's available on-line. THAT is the level of quality that should be standard at Disney Parks.

Nice update! Like you we used to do EMH but then we stopped it because I often hear the specific park is crowded on those days. We will do evening EMH but the morning ones...yawn. Although I may have to swing my on DHS during morning EMH next year. I have a feeling the new Star Wars Launch Bay will get it's own set of crowds.

Looks like a great morning at DHS! I also didn't understand that Baymax picture. We didn't get a video with ours so none of it made sense to us. Hahaha.
I really enjoyed One Man's Dream when we went there for the first time this year. It was fun to read about the history and the behind the scenes of some of the rides and structures.

I have only been on ToT once and haven't been on it again for about 18 years. I don't like free falling!

Love the Indiana Jones show! I hope they don't get rid of it! It's a classic!

Agree on Indiana Jones. I do think it's only a matter of time until Lucasfilm gets around to Indiana. I think there's definitely a place for him in the theme parks, and I hope that he doesn't go away. Have you ever volunteered to be in the show? That is a complete BLAST. I highly recommend it!

The Baymax video clip has him rolling out in front of your photo and inflating himself, then deflating, so at least in the video clip you still see your picture. The still version you only get him blocking you, which makes no sense. We got a tinkerbell one as well, which makes a lot more sense.

I am not sure Star Wars launch bay will get huge crowds. Maybe initially, but there really isn't that much there to get excited about except maybe the meet and greets.

 

[franandaj]

Nice update. You got a lot done in that amount of time. I really hope that they put OMD somewhere at WDW. It would be nice, but I havfe a feeling the pieces will either go back to the WDFM or somewhere else.